Page 33 of Stray Omega

CHAPTER 13: ARK

It was getting late in the day, and the sunlight sparkling through the liquid curtain of the waterfall was turning a pretty golden hue. Where the clear liquid splashed into the rippling pool, it raised gossamer plumes of mist. Ark carried the omega toward this pool with the intention of cleaning her there.

But as soon as he approached the stony bank at the water’s edge, the omega yelped and started to struggle in his arms, her eyes bulging in fear.

“Calm down,” Ark purred. “It’s just water.”

Before they got in, both he and the omega needed to remove their bandages. Keeping a tight hold on her leash, Ark set the omega down by the water’s edge, knelt, and peeled away the strips of cloth bound around her upper leg. Thanks to the salve they had applied and their proximity to the Source, the burns were pretty much completely healed already. Embla gasped in wonder.

“It’s the Source,” Ark told her. “It heals alphas and omegas. See?”

He stood and unwound the bandage around his knuckles where Embla had bitten him, showing her that his own wound was healed too.

Embla’s amazement shifted to a look of remorse. Did she feel bad for biting him last night?

“It’s all right,” Ark purred. “I don’t blame you.”

It was true. He did not blame her. The omega had only been acting out of an instinct for self preservation after all.

“Come on, let’s wash up.”

Ark gave Embla’s leash a soft tug, but the omega stood rooted in place, refusing to come any closer to the water.

“Embla. Come.”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head, swinging her tangled blond hair in the process.

“Oh Source damn it,” Ark muttered under his breath.

He scooped up the omega in his arms and carried her to the water. But as he stepped into the shallows, the omega went into full-blown panic mode. She clawed and scrambled at his shoulders until she was practically sitting on top of Ark’s head.

“Are you scared of water?”

“Scare,” came the single-word reply.

“Can’t you swim?”

“No,” Embla answered, quaking in fear. “No swim. No swim.”

Well, she was going to have to get over her fear of water because her skin was a mess from their earlier romp. In fact, she was smudging the raunchy stuff all over Ark’s head. In the heat of their mating it had not bothered him, but now he did not care for that one bit.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I will hold you, okay?”

He carefully started to lift Embla off his head and shoulders.

“No!” she screamed. “No okay!”

She kicked and flailed wildly as he lowered her toward the water. Her movements almost seemed to be a very ungraceful mimicry of swimming. When her swinging feet touched the surface, their kicking splashed water everywhere, and Embla howled in panic. Ark slowly lowered her further until she was submerged to her shoulders. Her arms flapped and beat the surface while her neck craned to keep her head as high as possible.

“Calm down,” Ark growled. “I’m not going to let you go.”

“No let go!” Embla choked. “No let go!”

“Do you want me to let you go?” Ark asked, teasing.

“NO!”

Embla flung her arms around the alpha, clinging tightly to his neck. Had he not clutched her tightly, she would have climbed him again.

---