Gael opened the door to see Noah sleeping in bed, and shut it behind him after entering.
He walks to the bed to reach out and grab at Noah's neck, clenching at it lightly. Seeing as the teen didn't stir, Gael furrowed his eyebrows.
"So defenseless..." He muttered under his breath before pulling his hand away.
'Why did the Moon Goddess pair me up with such a weakling?' He thought as he sat down on the floor. He leaned against the bed, "He would only bring danger to the kingdom, especially so close to the upcoming war." His wolf howled in his mind, 'weak... protect our Luna... can protect the kingdom.'
Gael closed his eyes in annoyance and rubbed his hair in rare frustration before picking up one letter of the multitudes off of the ground. After reading it, he ended up just ripping the paper into little pieces. Getting up, he padded around the room, glancing at the bed every once in a while before he walked out of the room, bringing back more blankets with him.
'Omegas like to nest, don't they? I should ask Reina about it later. ' He thought before adding the blankets to the poorly-made nest—which was surprisingly very comfortable when he joined Omega. He pulled the rest of the blankets on top of them before heading off to deep sleep.
Gael had awoken early in the morning to dress, getting ready to leave. Earlier, he had been laying in bed awake looking at Noah's swollen face. He recalled the moment when Noah had shifted back and began to dry heave into his nest. During that time, he was suddenly filled with an unknown emotion. Gael reached out and held Noah's face in his hand, wiping the leftover tears from his face, before looking at the lithe, freckled body, trailing down until he reached Noah's nether regions. He caught himself—confused, and before any more indecent actions could occur, he glanced back at Noah's face.
In return, he was greeted by two bright hazel eyes. They stared into each other's eyes for a while before Gael retrieved his hand, got dressed, and left the house altogether.
If Freckles was no longer in heat, then there was no need for him to continue to stay at his home. His wolf vehemently disagreed with him. His mate was still vulnerable... protect him. Ignoring his wolf, he made out to leave, as he was completely uncaring of Noah's feelings. Of course, when the time came, he would bring freckles along with him, but other than that, the omega was a liability. He was the complete opposite of his younger sister, Reina. Freckles was defenseless and had no control over his pheromones.
He thought back to yesterday when he had suddenly had a whiff of the omega's pheromones. His actions were an embarrassment. It had been extremely hard not to take the omega right then and there, but he had managed to do it. Out of necessity, he had followed the omega's father, but his wolf was agitated at being separated from his omega so early. He knew the separation would cause his control to weaken and he would end up attacking the omega's father in a rage.
Touching the omega had been unavoidable in the end, as he was afraid that freckles would end up dying on him. Watching the omega go into subspace had really shaken him up.
Before he had left, he heard a whine of pain. His heart hurt, but he decided not to spare any glances at the poor omega. He left quickly in hopes of reassuring his younger sister that he had remained unscathed and to prevent his willpower from breaking down.
At that, Noah was left alone by himself.
Noah watched as his alpha left his room. His heart broke for the umpteenth time. He forced himself to get out of bed, got dressed, and headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. His parents joined him at the table later on.
He noticed that the food tasted bland but ignored it.
"Noah, it's time you get educated about omegas, their history, and omega biology." His mother stated seriously that 'You will have to learn as much as you can for as long as you are here.' She thought.
Confused at why his mother was suddenly telling him these things, all he could do was nod his head in understanding. It was weird as he lived like an alpha his entire life until now—days passed by monotonously. He would eat, bathe, brush his teeth, use the toilet, all under the watchful eye of his father.
These few things happen every day, in addition to studying omega anatomy and omega history with his mother.
Soon it had been two weeks since he last saw anybody, including Gael. Mostly Reina and the others would come and greet him and ask how he was before they left. He didn't really have many friends from the village as he didn't fit in. Every day he would ask his mom if his alpha had come to visit, only to be met with his mom's saddened face. His infatuation with Rana had disappeared completely.
Apparently, since he treated himself as an alpha for so long, it prevented him from presenting as an omega. It rejected his omega side, basically. In order to keep sane, his body sought the nearest omega to form a bond. Noah had mistook that need for a bond for the need to become mates.
For the first couple of days, Noah found himself unable to accept the lifestyle of an omega and how omegas needed a lot of love and attention. He had lived life as an alpha, and receiving cuddles from his father was almost nonexistent. After presenting as an omega, he would receive cuddles every couple of hours from his alpha father, and garden with his mother in the backyard, cooking and providing for the family and bonding with them.
He would occasionally go out hunting with his dad, which lifted his spirits and made his wolf feel liberated. The smell of blood after he and his dad tracked the prey and killed it, coupled with the beautiful scenery of the woods, as well as the noise of wildlife, was something that he never knew he needed. He found that he actually didn't hang out with his parents much and began to become more affectionate as time went on—completely one with his omega. He completely disassociated from society and did not know anything about what was occurring there at the time.
The one thing he couldn't change was how quick it took to get him angry nowadays. It would make him feel extremely guilty towards his parents and he would end up apologizing through tears. His mom said that it was OK, he was only going through withdrawal symptoms from not seeing his alpha in almost three weeks. His dad clenched his teeth in anger before giving his newly omega son a big bear hug and carrying him to their room, where together both parents enveloped their son in their scent. Which, to be honest, would be his favorite past time to do with them.
Noah had been relaxing with his parents; his mother was grooming him all the while before a knock came at the door.
Orion and Edith looked at each other over the top of Noah's head before Edith shifted back to human and put her clothes on to go open the door. It was revealed to be Reina.
"Hello, Noah! Are you ready to leave yet? " She asks happily.
"Leave?" From where he stood, unmoved and clothed, Noah looks at his parents in disbelief.
His mother comes up to hug her son, while his father pats him on the shoulder.
"We will make sure to visit you, honey. No matter what it takes. " His mother says, tearfully, attempting to be strong.
"Your parents have already packed your bags up and given them to us yesterday, so all we need is you." Reina grabs my hand, and I turn my head one last time to see my parents. Before the door shuts, I see my mother break down and my dad carries her away from the door.
Dazedly, I watch as Reina pulls me through crowds of people at the village center, and to the gates. We walk out of them, and there I see Gael for the first time in three weeks.
Alpha... my wolf cries.
Gael averts his gaze. He shouts to the group, "Let's go! We don't have much daylight left. " Everyone nods. Noah jumped onto some of the largest horses he'd ever seen in his life.
"Do you know how to ride a horse?" He asks.
I shake my head and look down.
"... Grab my hand." He says this before pulling me up on the horse with him. "Hold on tightly to me." He says, and suddenly we take off as fast as the wind, my short platinum hair blowing wildly on my head.
I turn around and watch as my village gets smaller and smaller, and I clench my alpha's body tighter. The trees surrounding us turned into a blur of green; I was still confused about what had happened in the last fifteen minutes. Everything had occurred so fast I wasn't able to adjust myself.
I could feel a panic attack coming on as I had never ridden a horse before. It was strange how once I presented as an omega, so many new things started to affect and trigger me differently. I clenched my eyes shut tightly, feeling overwhelmed before I smelled a musky cedarwood, leathery smell. It felt rich and warm and kept me grounded. I followed the scent and ended up nosing at my alpha's back in euphoria.
My wolf howled in satisfaction.
We traveled for five straight days, taking some slight pit stops along the way, and soon the fatigue had caught up to us so we had to take a break. I had never left my village, and the woods around the area weren't as healthy as the forest near our home. I watched as Gael jumped off of the horse before helping me get off of the horse too.
I looked at him, "Um..." He glances at me before someone else calls for his attention, and then he leaves me stranded without even turning back to look at me.
I stand there helplessly and watch as he goes to help unpack the tents. I get startled when, all of a sudden, a hand grabs my shoulder.
I turned around to see Dara. "Don't mind him; he's normally an a**hole."
Remy pipes up from behind Dara. "Yeah, do you want to help us? We're going to start cooking over there, " She points at Reina and the others. Reina notices and begins to wave. "I know... omega stereotypes and whatnot, but if we let the knot heads cook, everyone would end up dying from food poisoning, and it really isn't labor-intensive, so it's a win in my opinion. So you coming? " She looks at me expectantly, and I nod in her direction.
I walk near Oliver and he turns to face me.
"Would you like a taste?" Oliver said while holding the spoon in front of me. "Open your mouth." When I opened it and tasted the soup they created, my mouth burst with flavors. It was delicious.
"Here, you can chop the vegetables," Holly said to me before holding the knife out.
I looked at the vegetables and gulped. I grabbed the knife from Holly and proceeded to shakily cut the vegetables. Just because I helped my mom cook a couple of times after I had been presented as an omega didn't mean I had become an expert in using kitchenware.
I was so absorbed in cutting that I didn't know Gael had appeared behind me to check on the progress. He had originally gone there to see what his little sister was up to, but had noticed Noah from a distance struggling with something.
"..." He glances at me then at my handiwork—large uneven chunks of celery, onions, and bell peppers were on my cutting board, with his silvery gold eyes not saying anything more.
"Let me." he says. I looked at him blankly, surprised that he was talking to me before handing him my knife and watching as he skillfully cut the remaining vegetables into tiny pieces. He goes to the pot and slides the vegetables into it before placing the cutting board down and walking away. I watched as Benjamin added okra, stirring for a little while more before calling everyone to eat.
In the end, we made venison stew, or what Benjamin called mouthwatering deliciousness.
He poured a bountiful amount of soup to everyone, before joining the others around the fire.
I found a stump nearby and began to eat. The meal was so hearty and filling that I wanted to eat more, but I refrained as some of the soup could be eaten during our long journey to wherever it was they were taking me.
Just then, I hear a brunette say, "What is with these huge chunks of vegetables?"
"Man, I get ya."
"Me, too. I hate vegetables, and the fact that they're so large... ugh..."
I blushed in embarrassment, feeling uncomfortable. I began to shift on my stump nervously. My vision began to wane from all the stress their conversation was giving me.
"I cut it." Someone finally said. I looked up to see Gael speak out. He stared at the other guys, daring them to say any more.
Seeing how it was their captain who had cut the vegetables, the soldiers quickly shut their mouths up in fear before saying, "We were just kidding sir... it was a joke."
I looked at Gael and my heart began to pound hard. He didn't notice me staring and went back to eating.
"Oh gosh... even though he's hurt me a lot... I've seriously fallen in love with the guy," I muttered under my breath. It's just my luck...
Soon it was time to clean up and head to sleep.
Apparently there were no other tents for me to sleep in; the only exception was Gael's tent. Out of concern for me, Reina stated that she wouldn't mind trading with me to make me feel better, but Remy shot the idea down quickly, saying that as much as Gael loved his sister, she knew he couldn't handle Reina's loud snoring at night and that dealing with a grumpy Gael was worse than having me sleep in the same tent as him.
"You should try to make up with each other," she said, as she had noticed the weird tension between the two of us.
It's kind of hard when he doesn't like me one bit... ' I thought pessimistically.
The other omegas didn't feel as comfortable with Gael, and neither did they feel comfortable with me sleeping with one of the other alpha companions. So instead, I said that it was okay and watched as they nodded before heading into their own tents. I walked towards Gael's tent and steeled my nerves before I opened it to see what appeared to be Gael fast asleep and some fluffy blankets laid on the opposite side.
'They really planned this out for me, huh.' My nerves calmed as I realized Gael was asleep. I go over to my makeshift bed and lie down, shutting my eyes. It was only after a few minutes that I began shifting around uncomfortably on the blankets before making the decision to take off my clothes—after all, I always slept naked, and it was practically ingrained in me by now. He thought without any care, as he reverted to his old mindset of an alpha, forgetting that he was very much a vulnerable omega.
The shuffling causes Gael, who was fast asleep, to wake up in a huff as he was a light sleeper and had been trained to wake up at the slightest sound. He knew that Freckles would end up sleeping in the same tent as him, but he didn't expect the omega to be so noisy.
'What was the omega doing that he had to be so loud?' He thought grumpily at having been woken up. He turned his head to tell the omega to be quiet before noticing Noah's pale, freckled body with no clothes on. The Omega lacked any sense of decency.
He stared for a long time, dumbfounded at the sight. The images of Noah writhing and wanton during his heat replayed in his mind unexpectedly. His face, however, showed no emotion before he finally managed to snap out of it.
"... Freckles," At that, Noah turned around. "What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to seduce me? " He watched as Noah began to flush after he had been caught.
"No! That wasn't my intention! I just... can't fall asleep if I'm not naked. " He finished meekly before glancing at Gael's indifferent face.
Noah watched as Gael squinted his eyes before rubbing his hair in annoyance and getting up. He began to lean close to me.
"Well... if you're going to seduce me," he began before stopping in front of my face. "At least try to be a little sexier." He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over me entirely. When I pulled the blanket off my head, Gael had already gone back to his spot, fast asleep.
I hold on to the blanket before laying down.
When Gael stopped right in front of him, Noah thought that he was going to be kissed.
'Stupid thoughts... How could you switch over to loving someone else so quickly? Just a few weeks ago, you thought you were an Alpha. ' He thought about Rana and what she was doing at that moment.
"Rana not mate, mate right here... love mate," his wolf responded. At that, he gave a happy yip.
Noah sighed at his wolf before closing his eyes, his mind replaying the scene in his head until he fell asleep.