Page 93 of Stray Omega

“It true. He think I Farlander. He no like. Farlander kill him families. I know, I know. She tell me every.”

Leros felt a tickle of curiosity at the back of his mind.

He glanced at Ark, and he could tell that his pack leader had noticed too.

“She told you?”

Embla nodded, smudging away the tears from her reddened cheeks.

“Who told you, imp? Who is she?”

When Embla answered, her voice was raspy and cracked from crying.

“Jora.”

Jora! Leros felt his heart clench like a fist inside his chest. Blazing anger coursed through his veins, and his purring unconsciously transitioned into a deep growl. Embla noticed the change, and she pulled away from him in fear.

“You angry me?” she whimpered.

Leros forced himself to calm down and smile, pulling the little omega close again.

“No,” he purred. “I’m not angry at you, Embla. I’m angry at Jora.”

Outwardly, Leros was calm, but inside his mind and his heart were churning with furious anger. Of course he should have realized it before. In all the excitement—the chase, the capture, the forced breeding—Leros had forgotten all about Jora. But now it all made perfect sense.

Jora had been jealous ever since the day Embla had arrived in the Central Ruins, and she had deliberately tried to get rid of her perceived rival. She had wheedled her way into being Embla’s guide for the ritual preparations.

“Embla,” Ark said softly. “What did Jora tell you?”

The little omega recounted the story. Despite her crude and broken language, it was clear what had happened. Jora had won Embla over by pretending to be nice to her. Then she had convinced the poor, unsuspecting omega that Orwen despised her and she had persuaded her to escape."

“Embla, did you attack Jora?” Ark asked.

Leros remembered that Jora had accused Embla of assaulting her like a wild animal. Jora’s cheek had been reddened as if slapped, but that could easily have been self-inflicted. Besides, Leros suspected that if Embla had really gone after Jora, the dark-haired trickster would have taken a lot more damage than a weal on her cheek.

At Ark’s question, Embla’s green eyes flared with surprise, and she shook her head insistently.

“No! No attack! Why attack Jora?”

Leros rubbed her back to calm her down.

“Easy, Embla. We believe you, okay? But listen to me, Embla. Jora tricked you.”

“She trick me?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. She only wanted you to run away because she is jealous. She pretended to be nice, but she only wanted to hurt you.”

“She bad omega?”

Leros nodded. “Yes, that’s right. She’s a very bad omega.”

“You spank her?”

Despite the terrible situation they were in, Leros blurted with laughter.

“What funny?” Embla asked, slightly annoyed.

“Jora’s a bad omega,” Leros said. “But I’m not going to spank her. I’m not going to touch her at all. Not ever. I don’t want anything to do with her, understand?”

---