OLIVER

 

Silas and Eve were a headache. They alone were enough of a reason for me to loathe returning to camp. I did the best I could to avoid having to deal with them.

There were tasks all around the camp that needed to be done in preparation for the snow. I occupied myself by doing my part but I was distracted by whatever Knight was discussing with Anita.

I kept my eyes locked on Anita’s tent and waited for what felt like an eternity before he finally emerged from it.

“Knight!” I called out. “Over here!”

I waved to him and he smiled as he walked toward me.

I examined the pants he wore and couldn’t help but smile.

“Do you like it?” he said as he looked down. “Anita had it to spare.”

“It looks good on you.”

“Anita asked me to gather with the rest of you,” he said, holding his gathering bag up.

“We are not going on another gathering trip until tomorrow.”

“Then maybe I can help you with something else. What are you doing right now?”

“I’m filling the water stores with the water from the stream.”

“Let me help you—”

“Wait.”

I couldn’t help but giggle. I didn’t expect anything else but for Knight to be enthusiastic about helping.

I put a hand up and rested it gently on his chest.

“We are safe in camp,” I said. “But you are still injured. Please. Let me take you to the elder. He can take better care of you than I ever could.”

Knight smiled politely at me and nodded.

We made our way through the small clearing as everybody continued to work. When we got to the other side, I saw Baron sitting down in front of a small fire with a pot boiling on top of it.

“What is that?” I asked. “Are you cooking food for yourself?”

“It can be food,” the old fox responded. “But it is medicinal. In case your stomach ails you. Foxes can get sick when the snow comes.”

“That will be very useful… Knight, this is Baron. He is the elder of the skulk.”

“Hello,” Knight said with a nod. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Don’t mind our earlier introduction,” Baron said, his eyes still focused on the pot. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I merely wanted to make sure that you are an Alpha jaguar.”

“No offense taken,” Knight said, laughing.

“Baron, Knight is injured,” I said. “Is there anything you can do for him?”

“Take a seat. Let me see…”

Knight sat down next to Baron. He rolled up Knight’s pant leg and looked down at his swollen leg.

“Nothing appears to be broken,” Baron said as he peered down at the injury. “The bruising is quite severe. It won’t get any worse if you don’t put any extreme pressure on it. It will take several weeks before it heals fully.”

“Is there something you can do for him?” I asked. “Something to at least ease his pain?”

“Let me see…”

Baron sorted through all of the pouches scattered next to him.

“Ah! There it is!”

He held one of the brown bags up and reached into it. A white paste on his fingertips, Baron massaged it into Knight’s injured knee.

“That is all I can do for you,” he said. “I’m sure the medicine is nothing compared to what you have in the city but we make do.”

“That’s fine,” Knight said. “Thank you.”

“And for you…”

Baron slowly turned toward me. He gave me a knowing stare. When he smiled, he revealed his long, yellow teeth.

I swallowed anxiously, trying my best not to look at Knight.

“If there is anything that bothers you, I have something for you,” Baron said. “You will experience quite a bit of stomach ailments. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Yes… I… I’m sure the snow will cause my stomach some problems.”

“The snow and other things…”

Baron put his head down and went back to working the medicine he cooked in his pot.

Knight worked his way back up to his feet.

“The water,” he said with a nod. “Let’s go.”

“Right. This way.”

The stream was close to the clearing where we made our camp. We walked through the brush before we eventually came to the water.

“Here,” I said. “Just like this.”

I showed Knight how to fill the containers I’d brought with us. We worked slowly, enjoying the comfort of the warm sun that shined above us.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“Anita is not interested in letting me mine the resources.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect from her but I’m not surprised. She is a proud Alpha. She wouldn’t let you get something from her, even something as useless as the ore in the mine, without getting something back. That’s just not who she is.”

“She did offer me the resources in exchange for something. But I refused.”

“You refused?”

I raised my head up, confused as to why Knight would turn her down.

“Why would you do that?” I asked. “That’s why you came here.”

“There are some prices I’m not willing to pay.”

“But—”

“She wanted me to present myself to her. She wanted to take me.”

“W-what?”

I blinked my eyes in confusion.

“But she’s an Alpha. What would she want with you—”

“Curiosity, I suppose. A chance to dominate another Alpha. I think that would be greater than any sexual pleasure she could possibly get out of it. Needless to say, that’s not something I’m interested in.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in it. If it means she’ll let you freely access the mines, you have to do it.”

“There is another way. I will think of it. Besides, Anita understood.”

“That’s surprising. Anita usually sees things one way, which is hers.”

I kept my head down and continued to fill the containers. Knight didn’t seem to be in a bad mood despite the news he’d just given me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I raised my head up and looked at Knight. He wasn’t looking back at me, instead focused on the task at hand.

“Tell you what?” I asked.

Knight started chuckling. His laughter only made me more curious.

“What’s so funny?” I said.

“I’ve lived in Dirge all of my life. I’m a man. There was never any reason for me to be the jaguar that I am. I was fortunate enough never to be in any fights. All that time spent as a man changed me. Anita was right.”

“Right about what?”

“It dulled my senses. I should have smelled it as soon as it happened…”

Knight finally looked up at me and smiled.

“You don’t regret being with me, do you?” he asked.

“No, of course not.”

“Then you are proud to carry the child of a jaguar?”

He kept smiling at me. Even though others would have been angry that I’d kept it from them, Knight remained kind just like he always was.

I swallowed nervously, trying and failing to find the right words to say to him.

“I don’t regret it,” he said. “I don’t regret a single moment of it. I am proud that you were the Omega I’ve mated with.”

My emotions started to get the best of me. I looked away from him as my eyes started to glaze over. I couldn’t look back at the man I had kept the secret from.

He moved closer to me and cupped a hand around my head. He whispered softly in a voice that was more comforting than anything I’d ever heard before.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I’m not upset.”

“I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I didn’t know how you would react.”

I was doing everything I could not to sob. But after so long, I regretted that I wasn’t the one to tell him.

“I told you that you have to stop apologizing to me,” he said. “I know that your heart is in the right place, Omega. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m proud to have laid with you. I always will be.”

He put a hand on my chin and forced me to look at him. When I did, a tear trailed down my cheek. He put his hand up and wiped it away with the back of his finger.

“I’m here for you,” he said. “I will always be here with you.”

“I belong to this skulk. Even though you are the father, Anita is the Alpha. She will want to raise the child as her own, even though it has jaguar blood in it.”

Knight sighed a deep breath through his nose and nodded.

“I understand,” he said.

“I want you to be the father. I want us to father our child together.”

The smile left Knight’s face. He put his head down and let out another sigh.

“I don’t know if that can be,” he said. “You are a fox who belongs to this skulk. I am a jaguar who lives in the city. Even if we were fated, I don’t know how it can be.”

“Then I can leave. I can leave the skulk—”

“Shh…”

The smile returned to his face.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Omega.”

“But I do. I—”

“The child will not come for another month. Who is to say what will be their fate? There are other things we need to concern ourselves with now. Don’t let this weigh so heavy on your heart. You already carry the burden of too much.”

Knight always knew what to say to me. It was as if being around him were enough to warm my heart. I always wanted to be around him, no matter what the circumstances were.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to work. There is a lot of containers to fill. We need to prepare for the snow.”

I giggled softly at Knight’s enthusiasm to work.

“You speak like you’ve lived through snowstorms all your life,” I said.

“I’ve never been in a snowstorm. That’s why I’m so eager to prepare for it.”

Knight and I started filling up the rest of the containers with the water. It wasn’t long before we finished.

As we headed back to the clearing, I looked down and noticed that Knight wasn’t limping as badly as he was before.

“Your leg seems to be doing better,” I said.

“That Baron sure did some magic. There are doctors who do the same kind of work in Dirge but they have all sorts of technology available to them.”

“Baron is impressive. He’s the oldest one in the skulk, so he has as much knowledge as anybody.”

“Perhaps I could live with your skulk. Food. Water. Shelter. Medicine. You. I would have everything I needed.”

I put my head down as my cheeks started to blush. So many times Knight made it hard for me to look at him.

I had to do my best to change the subject.

“Anita wants these water stores filled as much as possible,” I said. “If your knee is feeling better, we’ll be able to get a lot more work done.”

“Okay, Oliver. Let’s get to work.”