Page 92 of Stray Omega

CHAPTER 34: LEROS

The triangular room was quiet now. The only sound was the steady thrum of machinery and the buzzing of the electric lights overhead. The once pristine metal floor was now spattered with all manner of bodily secretions—sweat and seed and the omega’s slick. The air was warm and humid and reeked of mating.

Leros sat naked and panting, his back against the observation window that lined the walls. Behind those windows, the audience of Outsider scientists had dispersed, including that bastard Toth. Now the control room was empty. The exhausted little omega lay curled up and shaking in the young alpha’s lap. Ark, equally spent, lay sprawled on his back staring at the ceiling.

Leros felt a pang of sadness in his chest.

His omega mate had been knotted for the first time. That should be a joyous occasion. Another step in the binding process. Another turn in the braid of fate by which their souls would be woven together.

But this day was not joyous.

They were far from home, imprisoned in this Source-forsaken place and forced to breed for the cruel Outsiders’ benefit. Leros had no doubt that Ark’s seed had found purchase within Embla’s fertile womb. In the coming weeks and months, the beautiful little omega’s belly would swell with pregnancy. But that sight would bring Leros no joy, for he knew that Toth and the Outsiders would steal the babies away as soon as they were born.

Leros could not allow that to happen. He and Ark had to find a way out of this place. The omega was depending on them. Their unborn children were depending on them.

But Leros did not know what to do.

Embla shifted in his lap and started to speak.

“I sorry,” the little omega murmured.

Leros gently petted her soft hair back from her face.

“Shhh,”

Embla sat up with a pained look on her face.

“No,” she said. “No shhh. I sorry I run away. Feel bad…”

Leros could see fat tears trembling at the edges of the omega’s eyes as she glanced back and forth between him and Ark.

The alpha pack leader sat up. He leaned over and rubbed his big hand up and down Embla’s back, purring softly to soothe her. Leros joined in this purring, hoping to calm the poor omega’s rattled nerves.

“It’s okay,” Ark reassured her. “We are not angry at you, imp. Isn’t that right, kid?”

“Of course,” Leros replied.

The young alpha’s heart panged with sadness at the sight of his omega in emotional pain and distress. Her pretty little bottom lip was quivering now, and the tears were overflowing and rolling down her cheeks. Leros thumbed them away and continued purring to her.

“Embla, listen to me,” Ark said. “If anyone should apologize, it’s me. I have wronged you.”

“No,” Embla sobbed. “You no wrong me.”

“Oh yes I have,” Ark insisted. “I was too eager, and I did not take the time to consider your needs. I pushed too hard, forcing you into the Ritual of Binding before you were ready.”

Embla sniffed and shook her head, swinging her lovely honey-colored hair in the process.

“No, I ready! I want binding. I want you.” She looked from Ark to Leros and repeated, “I want you. Both you.”

It made Leros happy to hear those words from the little omega. His heart seemed to swell and burn inside his chest. He caught a strand of hair that had fallen across her face and tucked it gently behind her delicate ear.

“So why did you run away?” Leros asked.

Embla dropped her face and furrowed her little brow. She hesitated for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully.

“It Orwen,” she said at last. “He no like me.”

“Embla, that’s not true.”

---