15. Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
~Kitari~
P rogress was slow with the human’s damaged leg, and I found I had to slow my pace considerably so I did not leave him behind. But I did not want to carry him again, his smell intoxicating even from this distance. The innate urge to protect him was ever present, but I would not claim him, no matter how much my body urged me to. Clay had brought a new perspective into my world, and I would not act without reason as so many other alphas had before. It was not right.
And besides the fact that it was wrong, I needed to prove to my father, and everyone else, that I was responsible and trustworthy, capable of doing more than being cooped up in the archives all my life.
When we reached the end of the next cavern, the path separated around a sliver of rock into two different directions. I paused, feeling the slightest pull of fresh air coming from the larger passage, and motioned him towards it.
“This way.”
He paused when he caught up with me, flexing his shoulders. “Do you know the way out?”
“No. I sense it.” I touched my eyes, nose, ears, and then my chest. “You cannot?”
“Um no, not really.”
“Maybe if you were not covered you would.”
He glanced at me quickly. “Covered?”
“The armor suit.”
“Oh, right. It might stop me sensing things, but it’s important. It protects me.”
I listened intently. When he spoke quickly it was difficult to make out his words. “From what?”
“Well, obviously not from huge ag…keler…rhino, or whatever they’re called.”
I huffed in amusement. His pronunciation was terrible. “ Ahk-bkèlearino. ”
“Yeah, that. How did you know it was there?”
I tapped my head again.
“Sensed it?” he asked.
“The feces were all around you. They are simple to track, they leave traces everywhere. Humans are unaware of their surroundings.” Perhaps that was not entirely fair. It was an unfamiliar world to him, and we had a plethora of hostile creatures.
“You are not what I thought a human would be,” I said.
He laughed quietly, a gentle sound. “Yeah, well you’re not exactly what—”
He cut himself off abruptly and closed his mouth. I was about to ask what I was not, when a loose rock slipped under his foot and he stumbled. Without his arms free, he was not able to right himself. I grabbed his shoulder at the last moment before he fell.
“Thanks,” he said.
Why was I forcing him to walk with his hands tied? It felt cruel and pointless, and there was no one here to prove myself to. He stiffened as I spun him, then gave me a puzzled look when I loosened his hands. I tied the sash back around my waist as he rubbed his wrists.
“Thanks, does that mean you trust me now?”
“No,” I said. “But you do not appear a threat. Meaning no offense.”
“Wow, thanks,” he said. “Offense taken.”
Once I worked out his meaning, I smiled. This human was surprisingly lighthearted. He had an easy-going nature that was infectious. As we carried on, he kept on talking.
“What are you guys called?”
“We are Aldar,” I said. “I am Kitari.”
“I’m Bryce. Bryce Gunner.” He held out his hand, and I looked at it. Was he expecting me to do something with it? Or just showing it to me?
“You shake it,” he said. “It’s what we do when we meet someone.”
Frowning, I took his wrist, held his hand up in front of my face, and shook his hand backwards and forwards in a waving motion.
“Hello, Bryce Bryce Gunner,” I said. “Is that correct?”
“Close enough,” he said and laughed. I mirrored his smile, puzzled but happy at his reaction.
“So you Aldar speak Panlin, that’s handy.”
I did not know what it had to do with hands, but I nodded anyway.
“The higher alphas are taught some, not all. In case of…invasion.”
His eyes flicked to me again, and away. I did not know enough about humans to know what it meant, but it seemed to be a common habit of his.
“But I am learning,” I said, then added. “Slowly.”
“Well, you speak it very well,” Bryce Bryce Gunner said.
That made me swell with pride. Clay had been teaching me Panlin and had said as much himself. My father had allowed it when I reasoned it may help with scribe work and translations, although I would rather burn to a crisp in the sun before I used it for that.
Bryce Bryce Gunner groaned, and I turned to look at him. He did not appear to be injured, but his face was creased in discomfort. The urge to protect rose again; he was an omega in pain.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head. “I’m ok, I just have a headache.”
He did not appear to be alright. He took a few more steps, wavered, and stumbled, clutching his head. I steered him towards a flat ledge of rock.
“Sit,” I instructed.
He did as I told him and groaned again. His skin appeared to be paler than it was before, but it was hard to tell in the dim light from the glowing mushrooms. We had been walking for some time, and he had not eaten or drunk anything since I first saw him in the jungle.
“Stay,” I said, before leaving to search around the area. In a crack of the cave wall, I found a low-growing, edible plant. I plucked the fat stalks, brushed them clean, and brought them back to Bryce Bryce Gunner.
“Eat,” I said, pushing them into his hands.
He squinted suspiciously at the small greens. I took one from him and ate it, crunching the bitter plant between my teeth.
“Eat,” I insisted. “They are safe.”
He brought one to his mouth and took a small nibble, then put the whole thing in his mouth and chewed. “Tastes like samphire,” he said.
“You have a similar plant?”
“Yeah, it grows on beaches though, not in caves. Just as salty.” He put another in his mouth.
I left him again and found a small stream of water a short distance away, trickling through the rocks. It smelled and tasted safe, so I filled up my cupped hands and brought it back to him, dripping across the ground. I offered it to him and, after hesitating, he drank it from my hands, his lips pressing against my fingertips as I tipped it up into his mouth. I had not noticed how dry his lips were, or how soft.
When he finished, he offered me a rueful smile. “Thanks. I’d be pretty fucked if you weren’t here.”
If I were not here, he would not have fallen into this cavern in the first place. But then again, he would probably have been ahk-bkèlearino food, so I accepted his oddly phrased thanks. Clay had not taught me what this word ‘fucked’ meant yet, but I assumed it was not desirable.
I ferried more water to him and he drank from my hands until he’d had a good amount. Then I found him a few more of the plants to eat in case he was in danger of becoming unconscious again. Keeping a human alive may be harder than I anticipated.
“How do you feel?” I asked, once he had finished it all.
“A little better, thanks. My head is still pounding, though.” He touched his eyes and pressed his fingers to the top of his nose.
“What else do you feel?” I asked. Perhaps there was something else wrong with him, other than the lack of food and water.
“I feel dizzy. A bit sick.”
A thought occurred to me, and I relaxed slightly; I had heard of these symptoms before, although I had never seen it first-hand. I pressed a hand to his forehead. He was flashing hot and cold, and he had a thin layer of perspiration on his skin. He sighed at my touch, no doubt because it was cool and soothing to him, and leaned into it, apparently without realizing. It made something bubble up in my chest, and I realized how close I was to him, how his scent engulfed me.
“Do you have a pain inside here?” I said and pointed to my abdomen.
He touched his own. “Yes, it feels like it’s twisting. How did you know?”
“This is normal.”
He looked up at me, confused. “What is it?”
I sat back against the rock. I could not help but feel pleased and perhaps a little smug, although I took no pleasure in his discomfort. “It is my fault.” He stiffened. Perhaps those were not the best words to use. “It is normal. It is your body’s reaction to me,” I said, and smiled to reassure him.
He did not appear reassured. “What are you talking about?”
“It is part of the process. Were you not taught?”
“I think we might have gone to different schools,” he said.
I spoke with careful slowness, as I would to a child, so he could understand. “When alpha and omega meet, their…their àeura .” I did not know the Panlin word for the hormones we emitted, or if there even was one. I tried to show the action of mating pheromones emitting from my skin. He frowned. I elaborately wafted the air in front of me and breathed deeply through my nose. “ àeura.”
“Their BO?” he hazarded.
Now it was my turn to frown. “What is bee-ou ?”
“It’s sort of how you smell, naturally,” he said.
That sounded correct. I nodded and went on. “Their bee-ou begins the process in each other, in their bodies, to make the strong attraction.”
“The attraction?” His voice sounded slightly strangled.
“Yes, to mate.” I smiled widely at him.
There was a long silence as he stared at me, opened his mouth, closed it again. “I have so many…what’s an alpha and omega?”
“They are made to go together.” Speaking in this language was frustrating. Were humans not taught anything of soul bonds? I linked my fingers in an attempt to demonstrate.
“Ohhh-kaaay.” He drew the word out, as if it was some confounding puzzle and not the most natural, straightforward thing in existence. “And what does that have to do with me?”
“You do not know yourself?” It was like not knowing the sky was blue, or the moons were cold. “You are omega.”
“Me? No, I’m a human.”
“You are omega. I am alpha.” I smiled warmly so that he would not feel stupid for not knowing the most basic of life processes.
“Isn’t that a wolf thing?” he asked.
“What is a wolf?” I asked.
He didn’t answer my question, just remained silent for another long moment, blinking his deep brown eyes. Then he touched his forehead, closed and reopened them again.
“Ok, let me get this straight. You guys, the Aldar, have alphas and omegas? And your BO…attracts them to each other to…mate?”
I thought for a moment. “Yes.”
“And it makes you feel sick?”
“When it occurs strongly for the first time. When your bee-ou is awakened.”
“Right. And you think that’s what’s making me feel sick now?”
I smiled again. “Yes.”
“Because I’m an omega.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re an alpha.”
“Yes.”
“And my body wants to…mate with you.”
“Yes.”
Another long silence. He did not seem to be taking the news particularly well.
“Why?”
“So our souls can become bound and whole.”
“Our…souls…?”
“Yes.” I smiled brightly. His eyes were very wide.
When Arcay found Clay, it raised my hopes that I, too, might find the other half of my soul one day, but the chances of more human omegas coming here seemed impossible. As soon as I saw Bryce Bryce Gunner in the jungle, I knew, deep down, he was here for me. But I would not make the mistakes that Arcay had made in the early stages of their relationship. I would allow ours to form naturally, for a strong, healthy bond. I would not act on my urges without Bryce Bryce Gunner’s prompting.
He was shaking his head, his mouth open. His face had taken on a very pink hue. “Wait, this is…what?”
“Clay will explain it to you when we arrive in Amalya.”
He looked up at me again, his eyes just as wide. “Clay’s there?”
“Yes, he is—” I stopped, frowned. “You know of Clay?”
He hesitated, and his face fell as if he had made a big mistake.
But I did not have time to wonder what it meant, because at that moment, a foul smell reached my nose. It was enough to jerk me out of the sweet cloud that surrounded me.
I had been so consumed with Bryce Bryce Gunner and his scent that I had not sensed the approaching danger.