Casket Boy part 7
Masterpost | Return to part 6 | Continue to part 8
The local peach cultivar had come to harvesting time, a job Jared enjoyed a lot. Led by the enthusiasm of the hour, he blurted a sudden proposition to Jensen.
"Now that there's two of us, maybe we could plant another plot or two…"
But then his voice trailed and his face twisted in self-pity.
"I'm stupid. I'll be gone in less than three months, it would leave you with all the hard work to do, alone."
"What ?!" Jensen started, abandoning the tree he was working on to get closer to Jared. "Wow, come back to those three months, what do you mean ? I remember exactly the day of your arrival and you still have a long time to go."
As happy as it made him that Jensen remembered his arrival with such precision, Jared felt even more of a fool for having been too much of a coward to sign for a full year. He could have spent many more months with his alpha, but the deal was done, no amount of regrets would take him back in time to modify his decision, and crying about it wouldn't change anything either.
"I only signed for six months," he finally explained out loud. "I was afraid of what would happen, here and once I was back, if I didn't meet anyone I wanted to marry. So I took the coward's way and signed for half a King's grace."
"That's…" Jensen looked at a loss for words. "Unfortunate, I guess ? Unexpected and disappointing come to mind, too."
"I know, I'm sad too. Now that I'm here, anyway."
He would miss Jensen and his land so fiercely once back in Tethreya, he couldn't believe how stupid and faithless he had been. The first two months in Ismia had been kind of bad, terrible even on some accounts, and only the mating pull had helped him override the darker side effects of the many violations he had been subjected to ; Jensen was his true north, the ultimate attraction he had never tried to resist. His alpha mate, who had already given his heart to his island and encouraged Jared to love her too. How was Jared supposed to live far from them both and survive their loss ?
He felt so secure here, so happy, and the constant closeness to Jensen probably triggered something in his body that he couldn't name, he was no alchemist, but had him relaxing at last since his arrival in the Islands and his meeting with his mate.
Jensen seemed just as happy with their arrangement despite all his early misgivings. Jared didn't think the alpha had changed anything in his life, either to avoid Jared or spare his feelings, and that was Jared's biggest victory. They had this sort of easy camaraderie, the one they had always shared, now intensified with every minute spent together. Jared couldn't differentiate it anymore from his other, more amorous feelings for Jensen, and he hoped the same could soon be said for his alpha. Their conversation about the fast-approaching end of his grace had reminded him that time was of the essence, and he prayed Jensen would realize it too.
He had settled in his new life as if it had been tailor-made for him. He knew he was just an employee here, but Jensen never let him feel any difference in the way he was allowed to use the house and any accommodation. Nothing barring the artist studio was out-of-bounds, no conversation forbidden, no activity frowned upon.
Jared had come to use the living room every night while Jensen was there too. They didn't necessarily talk a lot. Jensen sketched or read whenever he wasn't going over the bank stuff, strangely sexy with those tiny spectacles strapped on the bridge of his nose every time he felt tired. Sometimes they played cards, or chess. Jared loved chess better - he won pretty often - whereas Jensen was the Primero and Piquet master. In any case, they played to trade tasks : the winner could get the other one to do something he disliked in his place, in exchange for another chore ; they also played for books : the winner was authorized to decide which book the loser would get to read next. That's how Jared had taken to sample Jensen's fabulous and extremely varied library, getting to discover subjects and authors he might not have tried on his own, while Jensen had bought new novels to follow Jared's advice.
Among all those riches, Jared's newest pleasure was puzzles. He had found two of them in Jensen's storeroom, lying abandoned and dusty, and then his mate had bought him more, sensing his interest.
Life was good in Jensen's home, and he had until the end of August to enjoy it.
"What would you like to plant ?" Jensen asked then, as if the date of his departure had nothing to do with Jared's involvement in the future of the plantation. "More peach trees ?"
Jensen couldn't believe how much Jared had learned already about agriculture, all in such a short time. He was a natural. Jared had told him how, at the orphanage, he had enjoyed tending to the vegetable garden and orchard, but it had been small surfaces and community effort. Here, the task was staggering, especially for an omega, but Jared pushed himself hard and made it work. His love for the job was so obvious that, had he been an alpha, anyone else would have concluded Jared had found his calling.
To the potential unbelievers, no better proof could be displayed than Jared's joyful enthusiasm since the day Jensen had offered him a decent-sized and freshly-plowed plot to do with it as he pleased. Unconcerned with the fact that he would probably be back in Tethreya long before most of what he had cultivated had half-grown, Jared had questioned Jensen endlessly about the better use of the soil, the fastest growing plants, Jensen's favorite colors… He had planned it all with an attention to detail Jensen had rarely seen in anyone else - himself included, sketching the garden under his balcony - and was applying all his passion to turn that plot into a place of beauty.
But then, anyone else than Jensen seeing Jared now, fast asleep on the couch right after dinner because he wasn't used yet to the intensively physical work - he would ask for forgiveness later, still unsure of his place in this house - would point out that no omega was ever created to deal with the hard labor of horticulture. As if nurturing and growing weren't omegas' intrinsic qualities. As if millions of omegas hadn't worked just as hard since the dawn of time, while the alphas were getting all the credit for their harder muscles and their supposedly more developed intelligence.
There was so much more than met the eye to Jared. So much more than this gorgeous envelope that Jensen had begun to draw again on a whim when he had spotted Jared lying completely unwary in sleep, offering the perfect subject for a new painting. Jared's shirt had slid on his chest, the unbuttoned collar opening wide to show a tiny, brown nipple Jensen wanted to lick and bite. His work breeches, some older ones Jensen had lent to him until they could buy something adapted, were a bit on the short side length-wise and they tended to obey gravity and slide down too, revealing the beginning of Jared's tempting treasure trail. His pretty pink lips were opened to uncover white teeth and, when Jensen was lucky, the tip of his vivacious tongue.
Such an unguarded pose for the omega. Jensen was pretty sure Jared wouldn't recognize himself once the painting was done.
"My gods, man, I get a stiffy just watching him stand up in those breeches that seem painted on him. Have you seen that ass ? Can you imagine what it would look like, bending over that table to take my knot and begging for more ?! I'm sure he would be such a slut for my cock…"
"Shut up, Bazil, or we're both going to walk around those chaste omegas all night with a pole tenting our breeches. It could make dancing a bit hazardous."
"Maybe that would give the Padalecki boy some ideas. He always seems so unconcerned. Needs a good fucking to remind him he's nothing but an omega, you know. Might be built like an alpha, but you and I would put him in his place in a heartbeat."
"It seems to me you've had more than a few daydreams about this boy. And probably more than a few boners."
"I admit I considered asking for his hand, because… well, you've got eyes to undress him just like I do. And I guess you heard what Richings had to say about him, too ? But like I said, he's built like an alpha, not like a genitor. Hips are too thin, he wouldn't be able to carry baby after baby, year after year. I may want to fuck the boy senseless but I need more for a mate."
"I'm pretty sure many of us have had the same thought, including Ackles. The alpha's too nice for his own good, I hope he won't fall prey to the hard chasing Padalecki's been doing since he arrived."
"Don't worry, Ackles is no fool. Padalecki will still be free for the taking when his time comes up. I'm sure then the omega won't be so haughty and he'll be ready for that good fucking, just to try and stay here."
"You're right. And you know, I'm thinking he wouldn't even say no to a threesome then. How do you feel about that ?"
His face red with shame and anger, Jared realized he had heard more than enough. He wasn't sure what a threesome meant but he could easily guess, and he didn't need that kind of image to pollute his mind.
Jared crossed the room, ignoring the other alphas until he found Jensen, who had been more or less forced to invite a persistent omega to dance. His alpha was now alone at the bar, ordering two tinels, but Jared cut in to tell him he wanted to leave the ball.
He decided, right here, right now, and Sheppard be damned, that it was the last o-event he would ever attend.
"I'm hopeless with a hammer," Jared told Jensen over his shoulder. "I didn't even try to repair anything, I just saw the damage and came for you."
Jensen followed the omega into his apartment at a slower pace and stopped abruptly on the bedroom's threshold. The scent here was so Jared, a concentration of all the olfactory pleasures that made him dream of the omega at night, glad they were staying on different floors so that Jared never heard him jerking off when Jensen fought the need to join him downstairs to make love.
"To be honest, it's worse than hopelessness," Jared continued, unconscious of Jensen's thoughts, while leading him to the broken drawers. "I'm a danger with a hammer. Give me a rake or a broom, a knife or a saw, and everything goes just as expected. But hammers have a mind of their own, they aim unerringly for my fingers."
Jensen settled his toolbox on the ground to take a better look at the chest of drawers that seemed to have crumpled under some invisible weight.
"I'm not sure it's reparable," Jensen mused. "Not your fault, I can smell your worry from here."
Jared thanked him with a grateful smile. Jensen turned back quickly to avoid the sight of the omega seated on his bed, crossed legs and bare feet. He really didn't need to fantasize about the way he could push him to lie on his back to let himself be ravished by his alpha.
"Most of the farmhouse's furniture is old stuff I inherited from my godmother. I had everything brought over here, apart from the castle itself," he added with a laugh, "so it's bound to give up the ghost sooner or later."
Jensen kneeled and took the broken drawers out to inspect them.
"You had all the furniture on a ship from Tethreya to Ismia, then from Ismia to Tellia ?" Jared itemized, clearly astounded.
"Don't forget the part where I had to bring it all from my godmother's countryside to Tethreya," Jensen completed absently, busy joining the planks back together to test their solidity. Maybe a smaller plank, kept in place over the other ones with a few nails, would do the trick.
"Ah yes, sorry, can't forget that part."
Jensen realized Jared was making fun of him then.
"What ?"
Jared rolled his eyes.
"Most of us don't even have a bed or a table to our names, and you have troubles bringing a whole castle over from the mainland's countryside to your farmhouse on a remote island of a new world. You rich people have it so tough !"
He had never imagined Jared mocking him for who he was, and that's probably why the hurt sneaked past his usual defenses to resonate that far. Jensen broke visual contact once again.
"Yeah, you're right. No use bothering with this, I'll buy you something new next time I go to Ismia."
Jensen let go of the planks and began to straighten up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him before he could stand.
"Please, excuse me," Jared said in a voice that conveyed how sorry he felt, "I shouldn't have said it like that. Sometimes it feels like we live in such different worlds, and I don't think I can understand you that well."
Jensen wanted to argue there was no need, that Jared owed him nothing, that he was so used to people seeing him for what he was supposed to be, one more person would make no difference. But then Jared squeezed his shoulder and kneeled next to him.
"Tell me, please."
It would be easier, and probably safer, to remain sullen and closed-off. Avoidance was an art his parents had always practiced with good results and Jensen had learned very young to emulate them. Avoiding his feelings for Jared was impossible, though.
"It's just…" he tried. "Growing up, the only moments I felt free were at my godmother's. She was an alpha but she understood I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps."
Jared moved a bit to face Jensen. His right foot caught on a broken plank, eliciting a hiss. Without a word, Jensen took it in his hands and checked for splinters.
"What was she like ?" Jared asked as Jensen's thumb slowly caressed the sole of his foot, mindful of causing more pain.
"Unlike any other. Free-spirited. Generous to a fault to the persons she loved, and incredibly mean to the ones she hated. She never backed down, not because she was a stubborn alpha, but because she thought you have to fight for the things you really want. She taught me everything my father didn't want me to know - except the cooking, that was all thanks to my previous housekeeper."
"Your father didn't want you to learn some things ?"
"Manual stuff, mostly. According to my father, my hands were only good to write, play the clavichord, and fuck omegas. Any other use was prohibited as I had to concentrate on learning the banking trade to become part of the money elite. There were other people paid to do the repairing, never mind that I liked to fiddle and tinker with anything coming my way. Painting didn't feed a family, even less a clan, so the only acceptable use of whatever talent I might have was to show the world the power and wealth of the Ackles. My brothers were a great help during my teenage years, covering for me many times when I sneaked out to get rid of my frustrations in street fights. But my godmother realized I was heading a bad way so she had me helping her staff to learn how to wield their tools, and she protected artists who would agree to teach me the basics of their technique. She offered me a chance to be who I am."
"So you feel at home around her furniture. I can get that."
There was none of the earlier sarcasm in Jared's words and his smile was friendly and true. Jensen smiled back, anger and disappointment forgotten.
"I don't think you have any splinter," he concluded, releasing the foot he had massaged during his explanations.
"You haven't checked the other one," Jared said hurriedly, placing his left foot in Jensen's hand for a second massage.
Jensen didn't protest. He liked using his hands, after all. Especially on Jared.
Jensen had guests tonight and Jared had done his best to create the perfect dinner for him. He was mostly done now, nothing left but the table to prepare.
"Do you want to sit beside one of your friends or in front of them both ?" he asked Jensen, who was coming back from his bedroom where he had washed and changed into clean clothes.
"Where's your plate ?" Jensen responded instead of answering his query.
Jared was taken aback by such a dumb question.
"In the kitchen, of course. I'm not going to eat on the dresser or the coffee table."
Jensen sighed and took his hand to lead him to the kitchen.
"Jared, you're eating with us at the main table, next to me, so get your plate in the living room pronto before Misha and Mishael arrive."
"But I'm an employee here, I can't eat with you all."
"You can, and you will. Yes, you're an employee, but even if that made any kind of difference to me, I like to think that we're also friends. At least we used to be, when you were not working here. Don't you feel it anymore ?"
"I do. I really do, I just didn't know… I'll be glad to join you for supper. Thanks, alpha."
"Thank you too, omega, for cooking, and for accepting the invitation," Jensen replied, so formal, before offering his biggest playful smile to Jared.
Jensen's friends arrived not long after Jared had corrected his seating arrangements. Jensen hadn't told him much beyond the fact that the couple had also come from Tethreya a few years before him and they had all hit it off immediately. Misha was often considered a weirdo, but a well-meaning one, and everyone loved his mate Mishael. Together, they ran a big farm on a nearby island and made good money despite Misha's various and bizarre interests. They had five kids already, who Jared wouldn't see tonight as they were left with their nanny.
"Mishael," Jensen called when a pretty omega with dark skin and gorgeous black hair appeared on the living room threshold, "come, I want to introduce you to my friend Jared. Misha, behave !"
Offering one hand to the lovely woman, Jensen came to stand next to Jared, and put his other hand in a comforting gesture on the small of Jared's back to appease his nervousness.
"Jared Padalecki, this is my friend Misha Collins and his mate Mishael."
Jared wasn't really surprised to see that Misha, just like Jensen, didn't make a difference between alphas and omegas when it came to shaking hands, but he was startled when the man not only kept his hand but used it to come closer, peering intently at him from below with penetrating blue eyes. Only the smiles on Jensen and Mishael's faces told him this attitude was not intended as a threat.
"So you are the young Jared Jensen told us so much about."
Jared couldn't hide his surprise.
"He did ?"
"To the point of being annoying."
"I'm sorry for that."
"Don't listen to him," Mishael intervened, "he loves to make an impression."
"You don't have to be sorry," Misha answered, "this is all on Jensen. And it was only good stuff."
"Really ?"
"Jensen never bothers with the bad things. If he talks about someone, or something, you can surmise he likes them very much. At the very least, he's seen something about them that should signal to everyone else that they're worth taking the time to know."
Jared felt himself blushing. And he was even more stunned to realize that Jensen had somehow felt enough at ease in his company to broach some difficult subjects with him.
Jensen managed to take everyone's attention off of him by asking his guests to sit at the table. He served the aperitifs before he came to sit with them, helping Jared by defusing a little bit of Misha's never-ending questions about his life and beliefs. Misha was definitely a weird one, spouting strange ideas about pretty much anything, but he also knew how to listen and make you speak. Jared was kind of afraid of this ability.
He stood up soon to retrieve the first dish from the kitchen. His knowledge of the local cuisine had improved exponentially ever since he had come to live with Jensen. His mate had given him carte blanche to experiment and try new recipes - as long as there would be something to fall back on, in case his attempts proved totally inedible. He wasn't worried tonight, they had decided on the menu together and he had already tried every dish on Jensen. Mostly, he was excited at the prospect of surprising his mate with the one thing he hadn't told him about.
He kept silent as he brought the loaves of bread he had baked in total secrecy, but the look on Jensen's face as he took in the five-pointed, star-shaped breads he set next to each plate held all the thanks and compliments he needed.
Well, maybe Jensen taking his hand and squeezing it was acceptable too, as well as the moan of pleasure accompanying his first bite into the crusty end.
"So Jared," Misha exclaimed suddenly, "Jensen told us you were once a teacher, and that you had a particular affinity for literature. Do you enjoy the classics or more modern work ?"
"It depends very much on the kind of literature," Jared shyly responded. "But I feel generally more attuned to recent writings. Especially," he turned to Jensen as if to get his permission to speak and continued when he received a supporting smile, "the few omega writers, like Pretana. Have you ever read her ?"
"No. I can't say that I have even heard about her."
Jared turned once again towards Jensen.
"Can I ?..." he asked, to be allowed to leave the table momentarily.
"Of course," Jensen approved with another smile, "anything you want."
Jared almost ran to the coffee table to get his favorite book, The Course of the Sun. Pretana's writings were difficult to find, sold illicitly in certain areas, but she had a way with words that had Jared nodding all along, vibrating with her characters that felt so close to him. Omegas who were described as real, living persons, not the kind of interchangeable beings Jensen had mocked with humor in that play they had seen together.
Jared loved Pretana so much that he had all but forced his alpha to read everything she had penned - of course, Jared had brought all her books with him when he had left Tethreya - and she had seduced Jensen in his turn. He couldn't wait to hear what Misha would think of her ; even Mishael looked like she might be interested, although she confessed to not being much of a reader.
Jared had a hard time falling asleep that night. The supper had been everything he had wished for, a friendly meeting of like-minded people who enjoyed each other's company and shared knowledge and laughter. One more memory he would take back with him in his orphanage, where nothing ever happened and he had to hide his favorite books, for fear young children might find them.
The day was gorgeous even through the gusts of high wind coming from the north. Jensen had decided the previous evening that it was more than time to show Jared other parts of his island, so they had saddled two horses and left early in the morning to ride as far as possible before the heat struck.
While not yet an accomplished rider, Jared felt more and more at ease on a horse's back thanks to Jensen's lessons, and this feeling was in total contrast with the current awkwardness he was experiencing, as Jensen had decided to go for a dip into the deep green waters of a lake. Jared had averted his eyes when Jensen was ditching his clothes, struggling not to turn his head back and watch. He lived with the temptation to join the alpha in his bedroom every night at home, trying constantly not to read too much into Jensen's mixed signals ; he just couldn't resist his naked mate.
Seeking safety in flight, Jared wandered around the lake. The vegetation was plentiful here, offering more examples of exotic plants Jared had never seen before. He spotted a beautiful species of colorful bird and admired the five specimens for a while, gracefully flying around from tree to tree. Their tails looked to be somewhat prehensile and the younger birds played at catching the ones of their parents.
Jared continued his voyage of discovery once the birds had fluttered about too far to see. A few Tarin monkeys, or what looked much like them, pushed him to change direction in order to avoid them. As Jensen had predicted, some of the small animals had found the farmhouse, or more accurately Jared's bedroom, forcing him to resort to using a net and asking Jensen to buy him one. He still felt bad about the way he had discovered the protection was mandatory.
Trying to escape the memory, Jared crossed the barrier of trees and went on the other side, to find himself face to face with a herd of the biggest beasts he had ever seen.
"Jensen," he yelled in terror without thinking.
His shout had the unfortunate effect of catching the closest beast's attention, and Jared saw it turning its huge body towards him before it began approaching. It was a slow progress but the sheer weight of the animal had the ground vibrating under Jared's feet. It triggered a reaction in him, some kind of atavistic fear of being crushed by such a monster, and he started to move backwards, not daring to turn his back to look where he was going.
He felt the root behind his foot, but still he stumbled and went down like a rock.
"Jensen," he yelled again as the dragon was getting nearer and his attempts at crawling were insufficient to escape. Pebbles and thorny plants dug into the unprotected skin of his forearms but the pain encouraged him to fight.
Finally ! Finally he felt Jensen's hands on him, pushing him upright, and his soothing, deep voice urging him to calm down. Jensen stood there with Jared in his arms, uncaring of the dragon that was now so close that it was smelling them. A massive, pinkish tongue exited the rough-looking lips of the beast's mouth to lick Jared's leg, the place where many blades of grass had gathered on his breeches.
"Don't worry," Jensen said, sensing him tense in his arms. "It's not going to hurt you."
As if trying to prove Jensen's words, the dragon turned away, uninterested in Jared, and walked back to join the rest of its herd.
"Why didn't it eat me ?" Jared wondered, so relieved he squeaked a bit. "The commandant said they were dangerous."
"They can be dangerous, if they're unfed, or attacked. Otherwise, they're the most placid animals you'll ever see, no more dangerous than the average cow."
"Then why does the army try to pass them off as the biggest danger out there, calling them dragons and shooting them on sight ?"
"Multiple reasons, I guess. It's a way to look good, to bring the people together against a shared enemy, but also it's easier to wipe them off the islands if everyone thinks it’s for the greater good. I can even imagine that the first explorers angered the chowli they met one way or another, and that the chowli struck back, maybe killed the alphas, forging their bad reputation. Not a lot of people are concerned enough about their survival to try and stop the slaughter. Misha is, and a few other settlers. I've talked with Morgan about it once or twice. He laughed and told me to keep to what I know, and to leave the rest to the people who can handle it."
Jared felt sick as he remembered the commandant bragging about the army's tally on their latest dragon-killing spree.
"I'm just as bad as him, Jensen. I've eaten the chowli he had brought back from his field trip, when I went to dinner with him."
"No, you're not. For one, you didn't know. And then even the Visnians kill and eat a chowli now and then. They would say it's part of the life-and-death circle."
"I wanted you to think I'm courageous but I couldn't even escape, I had to call you, like a stupid omega. I'm sorry, I'm a coward."
"Jared, stop. You were afraid, it happens to the best of us."
Jared hid his face in Jensen's neck when his mate's arms brought him closer. He felt so weak after the tension and the fear.
It took him a few minutes to realize that Jensen was wet. He disengaged himself a bit, enough to see that the alpha probably didn't have time to dry himself properly before he rushed to save his squire in distress, and his light muslin shirt was glued to his torso, indecently revealing.
Even a frightful encounter with a dragon couldn't stop Jared from fantasizing about his mate. He was doomed.
He put his head back on Jensen's shoulder.
"I saw Misha today," Jensen announced suddenly as the memory hit him. "We're invited for dinner on the 15th, on the occasion of Mishael's birthday. I'm counting on you to remind me, and to think of a suitable birthday gift."
"What ?! They're your friends, you're the one who should know what would please her."
"But you're so much better than me at that kind of stuff !"
"Why ? Because I'm an omega ?"
"No, because you're intelligent and sensitive."
"And you're not ?"
"Nah, I'm a brute and your employer, therefore I can order you around to do my bidding," Jensen concluded with a smile, as if the discussion was over and he had won that argument. "When's your birthday, by the way ?"
"My own birthday ? Nothing's sure, but it's probably the 19th of July."
"Probably ?" Jensen repeated, bemused.
"You know I'm an orphan. I was found on the temple's steps, with nothing but my first name badly written on a piece of paper. Padre Jim said I couldn't have been more than a few hours old, so July 19th was declared to be my birth date."
Jared was so matter of fact about it, as if repeating a story heard and told many times already, something that had lost the power to hurt but that he still kept at bay to make sure it wouldn't.
"Gods !" Jensen swore. "How can parents abandon their children like that ?!"
"I'm an omega," Jared replied.
This too didn't seem to need a longer explanation, and it infuriated Jensen that this wonderful man, so bright and able, had accepted such a misconception as a fact. He was better than most alphas Jensen had ever met, better than the fate the combination of his biological needs and their society compelled him to.
Jensen wanted to protect the omega, to keep him safe on his land forever. Jared was home here, just as Jensen was, and the crops needed him to grow.
He would talk to the commandant, maybe even to Sheppard, and see if there was any way to get a dispensation so that Jared could stay here as long as he wished, even unmated. Here on his island, or as a professor for the new school once it was finally built, it didn't matter. It just had to be somewhere Jensen could protect him and make sure he was happy.
But in the meanwhile, he had a project to plan for a birthday to celebrate in less than two months. Jensen stood up to retreat to his studio. Before he closed the door, he turned back to Jared, who was reading again after wishing him a goodnight.
"Goodnight," he answered. "And Jared, you have to know that Misha and Mishael are your friends, too."
Jared didn't travel to Ismia every day now that he worked full time with Jensen. His previous job had been taken over by another omega from his contingent who Jared had recommended to the alpha and Lauren Tom. But he loved to come now and then, especially to buy the products he needed at the market. Everybody knew by now that he was Jensen's housekeeper, and all vendors courted him to gain a client with a reputation to pay fairly and regularly.
Jared generally chose what to buy to feed them both. For some unknown reason, Jensen had given him a list this time, full of goods they would hardly need, not to mention in such quantities. Jared's questions had remained unanswered, Jensen claiming that it would be a surprise.
He was almost done when he heard someone calling his name from the other side of the street. With a bit of annoyance, he waited for the commandant to cross the dirt road and join him. The officer looked misplaced in this area, all tricked out in his colorful uniform at odds with the everyday clothes of the vendors and buyers.
"Jared, it's a pleasure to see you."
The pleasure was anything but mutual, but Jared dipped into his well of good manners to reply graciously.
"Commandant, I trust you're doing well."
A part of him wanted to burst out loud everything he had learned recently about the slaughter of the dragons, demand an explanation and extort a promise that the killing would stop, but the more rational side of Jared knew it was futile. Jensen had pointed out very clearly all the reasons why the army would keep going on shooting field trips. The commandant would probably miss the sportsmanship of the safari too much to even think about ceasing to murder an entire species.
"I wish I could say the same about you," Morgan answered with a worried frown, "but I can see you hurt yourself."
So much for not wanting to broach the subject of dragons. Jared shook his hand to take it back from the commandant. The bruises and cuts on his arms were slowly healing, more impressive than really hurtful anyway. Except the one hematoma on his butt, which was just as hideous as it was painful to sit on. Jensen had proposed to rub an ointment on it but Jared had declined, unwilling to show him what was supposed to be one of his best assets marred with this big black blotch.
"Nothing to worry about," Jared commented, "this is only the result of my unreasonable fear when I was confronted with a dragon."
"Dear gods, what happened ?"
"Jensen was showing me his land, and I reacted stupidly because of all the lies I had heard about the chowli."
"Are you telling me there are still dragons on alpha Ackles' island ?! And he didn't protect you ?"
"There's no reason to protect me from them, Commandant, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I only got hurt because I fell when I tried to run away."
"I don't care how you got hurt, he should have protected you. That man doesn't deserve you, Jared, don't you see it ?"
The commandant had this incredible talent to piss Jared off more than anyone else with a few simple words. Jared was done with all this and he was more than ready to get back home.
"Good day, Commandant," he said before turning away.
Many, many years ago, there used to be a clavichord at the orphanage, a donation from one of the rich clans Padre Jim had convinced to look after the children. Jared had learned to play by himself then, enjoying this peculiar feeling of creating sounds that had the power to enthrall people, imagining that he would someday entice his future lover by playing for him. He couldn't read music, but he had a good ear and found it easy to replay any melody he had heard previously.
Jared hadn't played since the instrument had fallen apart a few years later, but he had been delighted to realize that Jensen was the happy owner of a gorgeous model. It had a painted cover - a very bucolic scene with light touches of greens, fiery oranges, and passionate reds - but the most pleasant surprise was the six octaves to play instead of the usual four. Best of all, its acoustics were really phenomenal.
Jared had patiently relearned, trying for the best way to place his hands now that the length of his fingers had almost doubled, and he must have done something right as Jensen, whenever he was around, always ended up in the music room a few minutes after Jared had begun his exercises. The alpha had offered to tutor Jared if he ever wanted to learn to read music and had taught him scales already, as well as a few easy pieces. Jensen had learned the clavichord and the bass violin when he was a kid, as per his father's wishes, but he claimed to be more of a singer. He still had to prove it.
Jared had gone to mass last week, and the melody of a particular hymn had entered his mind, never to leave again. He was proud to be able to play it now, although the words eluded him and he could only hum along. It was downright annoying, the lyrics had seemed to speak to him in such a personal way.
"I know that one," Jensen announced, sitting next to Jared on the little bench. "Our Padre used to play it at mass, every time. It's called White Light."
Jared began again, turning to Jensen when his voice suddenly rose, deep and melodious.
"There's a white light that carries me home,
Helps me focus when I am alone
Keeps on teaching me how to be loved
And to love."
The emotion was palpable through Jensen's voice, raising goose bumps on Jared's skin. Jensen hadn't tried to boast, he was a singer in the best sense of the word.
"She's the good light that carries me on
Helps me focus on where I've gone wrong
Now you've reached me
It's time to forgive and forget
Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
Tonight, this land
Belongs to me
The shifting sands
The shining seas
Won't you help my soul to grow?
To heal, it's all that I know."
The silence was thick when the song ended and Jared swiftly chose another one.
Jared had told him about his encounter with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in town yesterday, but Jensen couldn't believe that the pedantic fool had pursued the omega here, not after all the ways Jared had tried to make him understand that they wouldn't happen. And with two boats full of soldiers, no less, who were disembarking right this moment without Jensen's authorization.
"Stay right where you are !" he bellowed as he got nearer to the shore.
The commandant turned around slowly to come face to face with Jensen.
"Alpha Ackles," he greeted Jensen formally with a dip of his head, to show respect and deference to the owner of the ground he was standing on. "I brought my soldiers today to rid your island of the remaining dragons."
Jensen could kind of see the physical appeal of the military man, and why Jared might have been tempted to give him a chance. He could also see the narrowness of his stares and the clenching of his jaw, the constant frown on his brow. This was a man used to being listened to and obeyed, a man ready to wipe out an animal species to gain a few minutes to flirt with a man who had already told him to stop bothering.
"I know why your alphas are here, Commandant, and I also know why you are here. Neither are wanted on my island, and I demand that you all go."
"I must insist, alpha. Omega Padalecki related to me his frightful attack by a dragon. Had I known the species was still roaming your island, I would have made it a personal mission to come and clean out the infestation earlier."
"This infestation as you put it, Commandant, is a natural species of the region, one that will never attack if they're not provoked. The Visnian tribes have even proved for centuries how easy it is to tame those so very frightful beasts. My island will remain a sanctuary for them, that's why I won't allow your regiment to come and shoot for absolutely no reason, other than your dubious purpose. As for Jared, this island is also a sanctuary for him, a place to feel safe and at home."
There was no need to expand on the conclusion, Morgan was bright enough to infer easily that he was the one Jared was trying to keep at bay by living here. But he was not to be so easily deterred.
"You know, Ackles, if you want to keep the boy to yourself, there's a very simple way to lay your claim. You have but to ask, that's what he came here for, after all. Unless you're just trying to lead him on ?"
"This is really none of your concern, Commandant. And you should know Jared better, he's his own man, and very much capable of leading his life by his own rules, whatever you might think of omegas. But maybe you're the one having a hard time accepting his autonomy. Or perhaps the way he rejected your offer. I can recognize jealousy when I smell it."
Morgan's demeanor turned much colder, the man drawing to his full height, back ramrod straight and menacing frown.
"I see there's no reasoning with you. Just think about what I said, alpha. If you never intend to do something about Jared's crush on you, be honest and let him know. He deserves to be able to find happiness with someone who really appreciates him."
"You say appreciate, I say love. Jared will never settle for anything else, and I respect that."
Lesser alphas might have backed down in front of the barely-veiled threat as Morgan came one step closer, but Jensen had gone toe to toe with scarier people in his previous, city-bound life. He knew how to fight, the dirty way, both physically and mentally, and military ranks had never impressed him.
"I meant what I said, Commandant. You're not welcome on my island, nor is your army. I'm politely requesting you all to leave. Right now. I trust we won't need to go to the Intendant to argue any official complaint, am I right ?"
Morgan's attitude all but froze. It was no great secret that the regiment's commanding officer and the Intendant pretty much hated each other. Morgan, for all his flaws and his pedantry, was an honest man who believed in divine justice and his mission, whereas there was no one and nothing in the Islands that Sheppard hadn't used and abused for his own advantage.
Morgan also had to know that Sheppard always tried to spare the Ackles alpha whenever it didn't clash with his own interests, because Jensen meant money and power, both here and back on the mainland.
"Very well," Morgan slowly acknowledged. "I apologize for the disturbance. Rest assured that neither my soldiers nor I meant any inconvenience and that we'll stand at your service, should you need our help with the dragons in the future. I pray you know what you're doing, for your sake as well as your omega's."
The commandant signaled retreat to his soldiers waiting a short distance away for the conclusion of this subdued alpha duel. They began to go back to their boats, re-embarking silently and efficiently, with an economy of movements that showed this was something often practiced.
"A word of advice, alpha Ackles, if I may."
Jensen didn't really want to listen to any more advice from this particular man, but he felt it was his turn to show his goodwill. He forced himself into an open attitude and waited for Morgan's words of wisdom.
"If you really intend to prevent the army from disembarking on your island at any time and for any reason, I suggest that you affix a no-trespassing sign on various positions along your island's shores, especially the pontoons. Some of those signs specify the army isn't welcome. It's not foolproof but it might help. On the other hand, you might not see us coming in times of need."
Morgan moved back without waiting for Jensen's reaction. Once on his boat, he turned his gaze towards the farmhouse where Jared was still hiding.
"Give my best regards to omega Padalecki," the commandant concluded, incapable of containing the words inside as the boat detached from the shore.
Jensen had warned him they would be away for a day-long trip. Waking up at dawn to find his mate already up and the goods he had bought two days before piled in their biggest dinghy, Jared had wondered why they weren't moving until he saw Misha approaching Tellia's shore on his own close-to-overloaded boat.
Jensen still refused to tell where he was taking him, that annoying little smile of the one in the know firmly planted on his face.
They left then, Jensen taking the oars at first with the promise that he would let Jared help later on. Misha proposed to let his turn pass, saying he would offer it to Jared if he thought Jensen would let him. Misha's boat was tied behind by a few inches of rope, following gently in the contrary but even current, its weight slowing them down.
The early conversation died quickly, Jared keen on observing all the islands they came across. Getting used to Ismia's flora, a tiny sample of the Islands' richness, hadn't necessarily prepared him for the explosion of color and beauty they were passing by.
A few settlers saluted them, usually the ones inhabiting the smallest patches of land, and they also met two fishermen. But as they went, Jensen led by his knowledge of the area as well as his compass, the number of islands they could see began to dwindle. Jensen then offered Jared to take his place. For almost an hour, Jared rowed, travelling through the endless river and trusting Jensen's direction.
He realized when Misha replaced him that they had been approaching an impenetrable cluster of trees, so thick and opaque that Jared was unable to determine if one island or more had given life to this jungle. Miles long, it was dense and dark from the outside, but the alphas clearly knew their way in and Jared discovered that, once inside, the light of the sun managed to filter through the canopy. He remembered then seeing some of Jensen's scenery paintings displaying strange dots of light and understood this was what his mate had struggled to render on his canvas.
The trip through the jungle lasted another hour. They made small talk, Jensen pointing out to him the trees and animals he recognized, so much information that blurred in Jared's mind into a potent wish to stay here forever and learn to know the Islands intimately, the way they deserved.
They finally emerged on the other side, the thick vegetation thinning to give total access to the river again. The heat had gotten worse during their time under the protection of the foliage, and Jensen soon replaced Misha for the last leg of their voyage.
They passed three seemingly deserted islands before they came ashore on a little beach on the fourth one. Here too, the world seemed devoid of human beings, the silence disrupted only by the murmur of the wind and the songs of the birds.
Despite the fact he still didn't know why they were here, Jared nonetheless helped his friends to load the wagon waiting there, hidden behind a wall of bamboos, with the goods they had brought.
"Hellooooo," an unknown voice behind his back had Jared jumping.
He turned to see a young and pretty blond man - an omega, his scent alerted him - walk straight to Jensen to hug him hard.
Jared hated him on sight.
The man turned to Misha then and hugged him too before he dared to look at Jared suspiciously.
"What is this ?" he asked Jensen. "A new resident for Omega Island ?"
"No," Jensen laughed. "This is my friend Jared who came to help us. Jared, this is Brandon."
They nodded to each other, unsure of the other's place in Jensen's life. Jensen probably smelt the awkwardness as well as felt it, for he brought a comforting hand to the small of Jared's back that immediately settled him. Brandon could still smell that Jensen hadn't claimed him, but the alpha's attitude was one of possession and support.
The islander received the message loud and clear, and turned his glare to burn Misha with his resentment when he heard the other alpha's chuckle.
"Come on, Brandon. You don't stand a chance."
"That remains to be seen," Brandon replied, but it felt more like a goading than a real challenge.
"Jensen, what's this place ?" Jared asked as soon as the other omega and Misha had begun to walk away with the fully loaded wagon pulled by a draft horse.
"I'm sorry you didn't get a better welcome, Brandon has always been a bit of a brat. But he said it, this is an island for omegas. The ones I've met too late, that I couldn't help in good time. You're neither the first nor the last, I'm sure, to find yourself in a bit of a predicament after the first two months in the Islands have passed and no husband has magically appeared. Not all of those omegas are as strong as you, or maybe as resourceful ; some of them end up on the street. I never thought it was an acceptable situation, I had to do something and help them get out of there. Hence this island."
"Why didn't you help them settle in Ismia ?"
"That's what I had planned to do at first. Opening a shelter for them, and also for those omegas who had nowhere else to live, to be able to offer a solution before the worst happened to them too. I was working with the previous padre, who was as concerned as me with this problem, and he dissuaded me from doing this, saying that it would encourage the alphas to avoid marriage even more. This padre used to give shelter to the omegas in the temple back then, he was a good man, not like the current one who is more about making sure he will get his subsidies from Sheppard every month. Before he died, the old padre made me promise to find other ways to help the omegas, and that's how I came up with the idea for the Omega Fund. As for this island, it was a way to let the omegas heal far from their abusers, but also to hide them from the law if they didn't want to go back to the mainland after the end of their King's grace."
Jensen watched Jared with a touch of worry.
"I thought you'd like to come here and see what we've done, help with it all. Was I wrong ?"
"No," Jared answered truthfully, throat a bit tight. "I was just thinking… You're still taking me there, right after I was the reason why the commandant led his army to your island ?"
"Were you responsible for alpha Morgan pursuing you ? Did you ask him to come visit you ?"
"No, but I seem to make things so much more complicated for you."
"You don't. Life is complicated."
"I don't know. Maybe I'm not that trustworthy."
"I'd trust you with my life, Jared, and I wanted you to see this. Come on."
Jared received a warmer welcome from the other omegas, and even Brandon's attitude became more friendly as the day went on. They unloaded the wagon and brought everything inside the community house. Then they shared a good and simple meal prepared with the island's harvests. The omegas lived in quasi-autarky thanks to the fruits of their labor. Jensen, Misha, and the few other people in on the secret only provided what the omegas couldn't grow or breed themselves.
Jared learned a lot listening to them, while the alphas went around to help with anything that needed muscles and maybe some talent the omegas didn't possess. The garden was positively delicious, and it gave Jared a lot of ideas about the way to enhance Jensen's on Tellia. He had long wished to give him this gift, or maybe this souvenir of the time they were together. He now knew what could still be done by the end of spring, and his basket was full of bulbs and rhizome long before he left, as well as two beautiful bouquets, one for him and one for Mishael.
Jensen smiled delightfully at the smell, but Misha seemed unconcerned, though Jared brought the flowers to his nose.
"Don't bother, sweet boy, my sense of smell is nonexistent. I find myself lucky that I can admire those shimmering colors, as well as the elegance and delicateness of the corollas and stems."
"You can't smell ?" Jared repeated, stunned. "I'm sorry, this is so rude and insensitive of me. Please forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive, and no reason to feel bad for me either. You can't miss what you never had and it allowed me to see people before I smelled them. Omegas will always be more to me than the sum of their pheromones."
"First time I saw Misha, he was playing the piper in my garden while I was sleeping naked in my hammock on the balcony. Awkward doesn't begin to cover it. I asked if he was the Pied Piper and he said that was his cousin twice-removed."
Jared snorted, that was Misha alright !
"So I asked what he was doing here," Jensen continued, "if there was some kind of animal I didn't know about that he had to lead away from my land. He answered that he wanted to know the owner of the most beautiful and spiritual island north of the delta."
"Spiritual ?" Jared wondered from the comfort of the couch.
They had been back at home for a short while, both tired and ready to retire in their bedrooms, but Jared just couldn't let go of Jensen after such a day.
"Yeah," Jensen replied, "Misha swears that because he can't smell, he's able instead to feel vibrations, some sort of energy coming off of anything, and that he can tell if something is good or evil."
"So what's his verdict ? Is the island good or evil ?"
"Good, of course, and he claims that's why I was attracted to Tellia ; not because I wanted something big to have space to myself, but because our vibrations meshed, a bit like two people in love."
Like true mates, Jared thought. He wished Jensen would give himself as freely to his omega as he had to his island. Jensen regretted he wasn't a very good farmer, but his dedication and love for the land shone through every one of the ways he took care of her.
Jared couldn't help wanting to see such devotion focused on himself. Jared had no doubt Jensen would be just as wonderful and caring as a mate.
"So you see why I asked him to help when I built the o-shelter," Jensen continued. "We improvised ourselves as architects and masons, with the help of one of the omegas who had lived with a real mason for a while and had learned one thing or three during that time. All the other ones helped too. This was their home and they wanted to be able to say they had built it with their own hands."
"You know," Jared mused, "I get why the padre thought it was better to encourage the alphas to marry the omegas, but I think he was wrong anyway. Our society is all about keeping omegas at home, serving their families, so maybe that was his aim. You were right to think that omegas needed a shelter on Ismia, to prevent a fate worse than death. You don't know what it means to live with everyone constantly judging what you're doing and thinking, convinced that they know better than you, and then doing nothing when they see you falling. I wish you had persevered and created that shelter."
Jensen was silent for a while, lost in his own thinking.
"I can't tell what would be best," he sighed in the end. "I couldn't even fight Sheppard on that subject now, not since he came up with the numerus clausus rule for omega boarding houses. I didn't give him much of a choice when I found a loophole about the school, so I have to pick my battles. I'll see what I can do when the dust has settled."
This was as good as a promise for Jared. He knew Jensen enough to know that it would be done.
Masterpost | Return to part 6 | Continue to part 8
The local peach cultivar had come to harvesting time, a job Jared enjoyed a lot. Led by the enthusiasm of the hour, he blurted a sudden proposition to Jensen.
"Now that there's two of us, maybe we could plant another plot or two…"
But then his voice trailed and his face twisted in self-pity.
"I'm stupid. I'll be gone in less than three months, it would leave you with all the hard work to do, alone."
"What ?!" Jensen started, abandoning the tree he was working on to get closer to Jared. "Wow, come back to those three months, what do you mean ? I remember exactly the day of your arrival and you still have a long time to go."
As happy as it made him that Jensen remembered his arrival with such precision, Jared felt even more of a fool for having been too much of a coward to sign for a full year. He could have spent many more months with his alpha, but the deal was done, no amount of regrets would take him back in time to modify his decision, and crying about it wouldn't change anything either.
"I only signed for six months," he finally explained out loud. "I was afraid of what would happen, here and once I was back, if I didn't meet anyone I wanted to marry. So I took the coward's way and signed for half a King's grace."
"That's…" Jensen looked at a loss for words. "Unfortunate, I guess ? Unexpected and disappointing come to mind, too."
"I know, I'm sad too. Now that I'm here, anyway."
He would miss Jensen and his land so fiercely once back in Tethreya, he couldn't believe how stupid and faithless he had been. The first two months in Ismia had been kind of bad, terrible even on some accounts, and only the mating pull had helped him override the darker side effects of the many violations he had been subjected to ; Jensen was his true north, the ultimate attraction he had never tried to resist. His alpha mate, who had already given his heart to his island and encouraged Jared to love her too. How was Jared supposed to live far from them both and survive their loss ?
He felt so secure here, so happy, and the constant closeness to Jensen probably triggered something in his body that he couldn't name, he was no alchemist, but had him relaxing at last since his arrival in the Islands and his meeting with his mate.
Jensen seemed just as happy with their arrangement despite all his early misgivings. Jared didn't think the alpha had changed anything in his life, either to avoid Jared or spare his feelings, and that was Jared's biggest victory. They had this sort of easy camaraderie, the one they had always shared, now intensified with every minute spent together. Jared couldn't differentiate it anymore from his other, more amorous feelings for Jensen, and he hoped the same could soon be said for his alpha. Their conversation about the fast-approaching end of his grace had reminded him that time was of the essence, and he prayed Jensen would realize it too.
He had settled in his new life as if it had been tailor-made for him. He knew he was just an employee here, but Jensen never let him feel any difference in the way he was allowed to use the house and any accommodation. Nothing barring the artist studio was out-of-bounds, no conversation forbidden, no activity frowned upon.
Jared had come to use the living room every night while Jensen was there too. They didn't necessarily talk a lot. Jensen sketched or read whenever he wasn't going over the bank stuff, strangely sexy with those tiny spectacles strapped on the bridge of his nose every time he felt tired. Sometimes they played cards, or chess. Jared loved chess better - he won pretty often - whereas Jensen was the Primero and Piquet master. In any case, they played to trade tasks : the winner could get the other one to do something he disliked in his place, in exchange for another chore ; they also played for books : the winner was authorized to decide which book the loser would get to read next. That's how Jared had taken to sample Jensen's fabulous and extremely varied library, getting to discover subjects and authors he might not have tried on his own, while Jensen had bought new novels to follow Jared's advice.
Among all those riches, Jared's newest pleasure was puzzles. He had found two of them in Jensen's storeroom, lying abandoned and dusty, and then his mate had bought him more, sensing his interest.
Life was good in Jensen's home, and he had until the end of August to enjoy it.
"What would you like to plant ?" Jensen asked then, as if the date of his departure had nothing to do with Jared's involvement in the future of the plantation. "More peach trees ?"
Jensen couldn't believe how much Jared had learned already about agriculture, all in such a short time. He was a natural. Jared had told him how, at the orphanage, he had enjoyed tending to the vegetable garden and orchard, but it had been small surfaces and community effort. Here, the task was staggering, especially for an omega, but Jared pushed himself hard and made it work. His love for the job was so obvious that, had he been an alpha, anyone else would have concluded Jared had found his calling.
To the potential unbelievers, no better proof could be displayed than Jared's joyful enthusiasm since the day Jensen had offered him a decent-sized and freshly-plowed plot to do with it as he pleased. Unconcerned with the fact that he would probably be back in Tethreya long before most of what he had cultivated had half-grown, Jared had questioned Jensen endlessly about the better use of the soil, the fastest growing plants, Jensen's favorite colors… He had planned it all with an attention to detail Jensen had rarely seen in anyone else - himself included, sketching the garden under his balcony - and was applying all his passion to turn that plot into a place of beauty.
But then, anyone else than Jensen seeing Jared now, fast asleep on the couch right after dinner because he wasn't used yet to the intensively physical work - he would ask for forgiveness later, still unsure of his place in this house - would point out that no omega was ever created to deal with the hard labor of horticulture. As if nurturing and growing weren't omegas' intrinsic qualities. As if millions of omegas hadn't worked just as hard since the dawn of time, while the alphas were getting all the credit for their harder muscles and their supposedly more developed intelligence.
There was so much more than met the eye to Jared. So much more than this gorgeous envelope that Jensen had begun to draw again on a whim when he had spotted Jared lying completely unwary in sleep, offering the perfect subject for a new painting. Jared's shirt had slid on his chest, the unbuttoned collar opening wide to show a tiny, brown nipple Jensen wanted to lick and bite. His work breeches, some older ones Jensen had lent to him until they could buy something adapted, were a bit on the short side length-wise and they tended to obey gravity and slide down too, revealing the beginning of Jared's tempting treasure trail. His pretty pink lips were opened to uncover white teeth and, when Jensen was lucky, the tip of his vivacious tongue.
Such an unguarded pose for the omega. Jensen was pretty sure Jared wouldn't recognize himself once the painting was done.
"My gods, man, I get a stiffy just watching him stand up in those breeches that seem painted on him. Have you seen that ass ? Can you imagine what it would look like, bending over that table to take my knot and begging for more ?! I'm sure he would be such a slut for my cock…"
"Shut up, Bazil, or we're both going to walk around those chaste omegas all night with a pole tenting our breeches. It could make dancing a bit hazardous."
"Maybe that would give the Padalecki boy some ideas. He always seems so unconcerned. Needs a good fucking to remind him he's nothing but an omega, you know. Might be built like an alpha, but you and I would put him in his place in a heartbeat."
"It seems to me you've had more than a few daydreams about this boy. And probably more than a few boners."
"I admit I considered asking for his hand, because… well, you've got eyes to undress him just like I do. And I guess you heard what Richings had to say about him, too ? But like I said, he's built like an alpha, not like a genitor. Hips are too thin, he wouldn't be able to carry baby after baby, year after year. I may want to fuck the boy senseless but I need more for a mate."
"I'm pretty sure many of us have had the same thought, including Ackles. The alpha's too nice for his own good, I hope he won't fall prey to the hard chasing Padalecki's been doing since he arrived."
"Don't worry, Ackles is no fool. Padalecki will still be free for the taking when his time comes up. I'm sure then the omega won't be so haughty and he'll be ready for that good fucking, just to try and stay here."
"You're right. And you know, I'm thinking he wouldn't even say no to a threesome then. How do you feel about that ?"
His face red with shame and anger, Jared realized he had heard more than enough. He wasn't sure what a threesome meant but he could easily guess, and he didn't need that kind of image to pollute his mind.
Jared crossed the room, ignoring the other alphas until he found Jensen, who had been more or less forced to invite a persistent omega to dance. His alpha was now alone at the bar, ordering two tinels, but Jared cut in to tell him he wanted to leave the ball.
He decided, right here, right now, and Sheppard be damned, that it was the last o-event he would ever attend.
"I'm hopeless with a hammer," Jared told Jensen over his shoulder. "I didn't even try to repair anything, I just saw the damage and came for you."
Jensen followed the omega into his apartment at a slower pace and stopped abruptly on the bedroom's threshold. The scent here was so Jared, a concentration of all the olfactory pleasures that made him dream of the omega at night, glad they were staying on different floors so that Jared never heard him jerking off when Jensen fought the need to join him downstairs to make love.
"To be honest, it's worse than hopelessness," Jared continued, unconscious of Jensen's thoughts, while leading him to the broken drawers. "I'm a danger with a hammer. Give me a rake or a broom, a knife or a saw, and everything goes just as expected. But hammers have a mind of their own, they aim unerringly for my fingers."
Jensen settled his toolbox on the ground to take a better look at the chest of drawers that seemed to have crumpled under some invisible weight.
"I'm not sure it's reparable," Jensen mused. "Not your fault, I can smell your worry from here."
Jared thanked him with a grateful smile. Jensen turned back quickly to avoid the sight of the omega seated on his bed, crossed legs and bare feet. He really didn't need to fantasize about the way he could push him to lie on his back to let himself be ravished by his alpha.
"Most of the farmhouse's furniture is old stuff I inherited from my godmother. I had everything brought over here, apart from the castle itself," he added with a laugh, "so it's bound to give up the ghost sooner or later."
Jensen kneeled and took the broken drawers out to inspect them.
"You had all the furniture on a ship from Tethreya to Ismia, then from Ismia to Tellia ?" Jared itemized, clearly astounded.
"Don't forget the part where I had to bring it all from my godmother's countryside to Tethreya," Jensen completed absently, busy joining the planks back together to test their solidity. Maybe a smaller plank, kept in place over the other ones with a few nails, would do the trick.
"Ah yes, sorry, can't forget that part."
Jensen realized Jared was making fun of him then.
"What ?"
Jared rolled his eyes.
"Most of us don't even have a bed or a table to our names, and you have troubles bringing a whole castle over from the mainland's countryside to your farmhouse on a remote island of a new world. You rich people have it so tough !"
He had never imagined Jared mocking him for who he was, and that's probably why the hurt sneaked past his usual defenses to resonate that far. Jensen broke visual contact once again.
"Yeah, you're right. No use bothering with this, I'll buy you something new next time I go to Ismia."
Jensen let go of the planks and began to straighten up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him before he could stand.
"Please, excuse me," Jared said in a voice that conveyed how sorry he felt, "I shouldn't have said it like that. Sometimes it feels like we live in such different worlds, and I don't think I can understand you that well."
Jensen wanted to argue there was no need, that Jared owed him nothing, that he was so used to people seeing him for what he was supposed to be, one more person would make no difference. But then Jared squeezed his shoulder and kneeled next to him.
"Tell me, please."
It would be easier, and probably safer, to remain sullen and closed-off. Avoidance was an art his parents had always practiced with good results and Jensen had learned very young to emulate them. Avoiding his feelings for Jared was impossible, though.
"It's just…" he tried. "Growing up, the only moments I felt free were at my godmother's. She was an alpha but she understood I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps."
Jared moved a bit to face Jensen. His right foot caught on a broken plank, eliciting a hiss. Without a word, Jensen took it in his hands and checked for splinters.
"What was she like ?" Jared asked as Jensen's thumb slowly caressed the sole of his foot, mindful of causing more pain.
"Unlike any other. Free-spirited. Generous to a fault to the persons she loved, and incredibly mean to the ones she hated. She never backed down, not because she was a stubborn alpha, but because she thought you have to fight for the things you really want. She taught me everything my father didn't want me to know - except the cooking, that was all thanks to my previous housekeeper."
"Your father didn't want you to learn some things ?"
"Manual stuff, mostly. According to my father, my hands were only good to write, play the clavichord, and fuck omegas. Any other use was prohibited as I had to concentrate on learning the banking trade to become part of the money elite. There were other people paid to do the repairing, never mind that I liked to fiddle and tinker with anything coming my way. Painting didn't feed a family, even less a clan, so the only acceptable use of whatever talent I might have was to show the world the power and wealth of the Ackles. My brothers were a great help during my teenage years, covering for me many times when I sneaked out to get rid of my frustrations in street fights. But my godmother realized I was heading a bad way so she had me helping her staff to learn how to wield their tools, and she protected artists who would agree to teach me the basics of their technique. She offered me a chance to be who I am."
"So you feel at home around her furniture. I can get that."
There was none of the earlier sarcasm in Jared's words and his smile was friendly and true. Jensen smiled back, anger and disappointment forgotten.
"I don't think you have any splinter," he concluded, releasing the foot he had massaged during his explanations.
"You haven't checked the other one," Jared said hurriedly, placing his left foot in Jensen's hand for a second massage.
Jensen didn't protest. He liked using his hands, after all. Especially on Jared.
Jensen had guests tonight and Jared had done his best to create the perfect dinner for him. He was mostly done now, nothing left but the table to prepare.
"Do you want to sit beside one of your friends or in front of them both ?" he asked Jensen, who was coming back from his bedroom where he had washed and changed into clean clothes.
"Where's your plate ?" Jensen responded instead of answering his query.
Jared was taken aback by such a dumb question.
"In the kitchen, of course. I'm not going to eat on the dresser or the coffee table."
Jensen sighed and took his hand to lead him to the kitchen.
"Jared, you're eating with us at the main table, next to me, so get your plate in the living room pronto before Misha and Mishael arrive."
"But I'm an employee here, I can't eat with you all."
"You can, and you will. Yes, you're an employee, but even if that made any kind of difference to me, I like to think that we're also friends. At least we used to be, when you were not working here. Don't you feel it anymore ?"
"I do. I really do, I just didn't know… I'll be glad to join you for supper. Thanks, alpha."
"Thank you too, omega, for cooking, and for accepting the invitation," Jensen replied, so formal, before offering his biggest playful smile to Jared.
Jensen's friends arrived not long after Jared had corrected his seating arrangements. Jensen hadn't told him much beyond the fact that the couple had also come from Tethreya a few years before him and they had all hit it off immediately. Misha was often considered a weirdo, but a well-meaning one, and everyone loved his mate Mishael. Together, they ran a big farm on a nearby island and made good money despite Misha's various and bizarre interests. They had five kids already, who Jared wouldn't see tonight as they were left with their nanny.
"Mishael," Jensen called when a pretty omega with dark skin and gorgeous black hair appeared on the living room threshold, "come, I want to introduce you to my friend Jared. Misha, behave !"
Offering one hand to the lovely woman, Jensen came to stand next to Jared, and put his other hand in a comforting gesture on the small of Jared's back to appease his nervousness.
"Jared Padalecki, this is my friend Misha Collins and his mate Mishael."
Jared wasn't really surprised to see that Misha, just like Jensen, didn't make a difference between alphas and omegas when it came to shaking hands, but he was startled when the man not only kept his hand but used it to come closer, peering intently at him from below with penetrating blue eyes. Only the smiles on Jensen and Mishael's faces told him this attitude was not intended as a threat.
"So you are the young Jared Jensen told us so much about."
Jared couldn't hide his surprise.
"He did ?"
"To the point of being annoying."
"I'm sorry for that."
"Don't listen to him," Mishael intervened, "he loves to make an impression."
"You don't have to be sorry," Misha answered, "this is all on Jensen. And it was only good stuff."
"Really ?"
"Jensen never bothers with the bad things. If he talks about someone, or something, you can surmise he likes them very much. At the very least, he's seen something about them that should signal to everyone else that they're worth taking the time to know."
Jared felt himself blushing. And he was even more stunned to realize that Jensen had somehow felt enough at ease in his company to broach some difficult subjects with him.
Jensen managed to take everyone's attention off of him by asking his guests to sit at the table. He served the aperitifs before he came to sit with them, helping Jared by defusing a little bit of Misha's never-ending questions about his life and beliefs. Misha was definitely a weird one, spouting strange ideas about pretty much anything, but he also knew how to listen and make you speak. Jared was kind of afraid of this ability.
He stood up soon to retrieve the first dish from the kitchen. His knowledge of the local cuisine had improved exponentially ever since he had come to live with Jensen. His mate had given him carte blanche to experiment and try new recipes - as long as there would be something to fall back on, in case his attempts proved totally inedible. He wasn't worried tonight, they had decided on the menu together and he had already tried every dish on Jensen. Mostly, he was excited at the prospect of surprising his mate with the one thing he hadn't told him about.
He kept silent as he brought the loaves of bread he had baked in total secrecy, but the look on Jensen's face as he took in the five-pointed, star-shaped breads he set next to each plate held all the thanks and compliments he needed.
Well, maybe Jensen taking his hand and squeezing it was acceptable too, as well as the moan of pleasure accompanying his first bite into the crusty end.
"So Jared," Misha exclaimed suddenly, "Jensen told us you were once a teacher, and that you had a particular affinity for literature. Do you enjoy the classics or more modern work ?"
"It depends very much on the kind of literature," Jared shyly responded. "But I feel generally more attuned to recent writings. Especially," he turned to Jensen as if to get his permission to speak and continued when he received a supporting smile, "the few omega writers, like Pretana. Have you ever read her ?"
"No. I can't say that I have even heard about her."
Jared turned once again towards Jensen.
"Can I ?..." he asked, to be allowed to leave the table momentarily.
"Of course," Jensen approved with another smile, "anything you want."
Jared almost ran to the coffee table to get his favorite book, The Course of the Sun. Pretana's writings were difficult to find, sold illicitly in certain areas, but she had a way with words that had Jared nodding all along, vibrating with her characters that felt so close to him. Omegas who were described as real, living persons, not the kind of interchangeable beings Jensen had mocked with humor in that play they had seen together.
Jared loved Pretana so much that he had all but forced his alpha to read everything she had penned - of course, Jared had brought all her books with him when he had left Tethreya - and she had seduced Jensen in his turn. He couldn't wait to hear what Misha would think of her ; even Mishael looked like she might be interested, although she confessed to not being much of a reader.
Jared had a hard time falling asleep that night. The supper had been everything he had wished for, a friendly meeting of like-minded people who enjoyed each other's company and shared knowledge and laughter. One more memory he would take back with him in his orphanage, where nothing ever happened and he had to hide his favorite books, for fear young children might find them.
The day was gorgeous even through the gusts of high wind coming from the north. Jensen had decided the previous evening that it was more than time to show Jared other parts of his island, so they had saddled two horses and left early in the morning to ride as far as possible before the heat struck.
While not yet an accomplished rider, Jared felt more and more at ease on a horse's back thanks to Jensen's lessons, and this feeling was in total contrast with the current awkwardness he was experiencing, as Jensen had decided to go for a dip into the deep green waters of a lake. Jared had averted his eyes when Jensen was ditching his clothes, struggling not to turn his head back and watch. He lived with the temptation to join the alpha in his bedroom every night at home, trying constantly not to read too much into Jensen's mixed signals ; he just couldn't resist his naked mate.
Seeking safety in flight, Jared wandered around the lake. The vegetation was plentiful here, offering more examples of exotic plants Jared had never seen before. He spotted a beautiful species of colorful bird and admired the five specimens for a while, gracefully flying around from tree to tree. Their tails looked to be somewhat prehensile and the younger birds played at catching the ones of their parents.
Jared continued his voyage of discovery once the birds had fluttered about too far to see. A few Tarin monkeys, or what looked much like them, pushed him to change direction in order to avoid them. As Jensen had predicted, some of the small animals had found the farmhouse, or more accurately Jared's bedroom, forcing him to resort to using a net and asking Jensen to buy him one. He still felt bad about the way he had discovered the protection was mandatory.
Trying to escape the memory, Jared crossed the barrier of trees and went on the other side, to find himself face to face with a herd of the biggest beasts he had ever seen.
"Jensen," he yelled in terror without thinking.
His shout had the unfortunate effect of catching the closest beast's attention, and Jared saw it turning its huge body towards him before it began approaching. It was a slow progress but the sheer weight of the animal had the ground vibrating under Jared's feet. It triggered a reaction in him, some kind of atavistic fear of being crushed by such a monster, and he started to move backwards, not daring to turn his back to look where he was going.
He felt the root behind his foot, but still he stumbled and went down like a rock.
"Jensen," he yelled again as the dragon was getting nearer and his attempts at crawling were insufficient to escape. Pebbles and thorny plants dug into the unprotected skin of his forearms but the pain encouraged him to fight.
Finally ! Finally he felt Jensen's hands on him, pushing him upright, and his soothing, deep voice urging him to calm down. Jensen stood there with Jared in his arms, uncaring of the dragon that was now so close that it was smelling them. A massive, pinkish tongue exited the rough-looking lips of the beast's mouth to lick Jared's leg, the place where many blades of grass had gathered on his breeches.
"Don't worry," Jensen said, sensing him tense in his arms. "It's not going to hurt you."
As if trying to prove Jensen's words, the dragon turned away, uninterested in Jared, and walked back to join the rest of its herd.
"Why didn't it eat me ?" Jared wondered, so relieved he squeaked a bit. "The commandant said they were dangerous."
"They can be dangerous, if they're unfed, or attacked. Otherwise, they're the most placid animals you'll ever see, no more dangerous than the average cow."
"Then why does the army try to pass them off as the biggest danger out there, calling them dragons and shooting them on sight ?"
"Multiple reasons, I guess. It's a way to look good, to bring the people together against a shared enemy, but also it's easier to wipe them off the islands if everyone thinks it’s for the greater good. I can even imagine that the first explorers angered the chowli they met one way or another, and that the chowli struck back, maybe killed the alphas, forging their bad reputation. Not a lot of people are concerned enough about their survival to try and stop the slaughter. Misha is, and a few other settlers. I've talked with Morgan about it once or twice. He laughed and told me to keep to what I know, and to leave the rest to the people who can handle it."
Jared felt sick as he remembered the commandant bragging about the army's tally on their latest dragon-killing spree.
"I'm just as bad as him, Jensen. I've eaten the chowli he had brought back from his field trip, when I went to dinner with him."
"No, you're not. For one, you didn't know. And then even the Visnians kill and eat a chowli now and then. They would say it's part of the life-and-death circle."
"I wanted you to think I'm courageous but I couldn't even escape, I had to call you, like a stupid omega. I'm sorry, I'm a coward."
"Jared, stop. You were afraid, it happens to the best of us."
Jared hid his face in Jensen's neck when his mate's arms brought him closer. He felt so weak after the tension and the fear.
It took him a few minutes to realize that Jensen was wet. He disengaged himself a bit, enough to see that the alpha probably didn't have time to dry himself properly before he rushed to save his squire in distress, and his light muslin shirt was glued to his torso, indecently revealing.
Even a frightful encounter with a dragon couldn't stop Jared from fantasizing about his mate. He was doomed.
He put his head back on Jensen's shoulder.
"I saw Misha today," Jensen announced suddenly as the memory hit him. "We're invited for dinner on the 15th, on the occasion of Mishael's birthday. I'm counting on you to remind me, and to think of a suitable birthday gift."
"What ?! They're your friends, you're the one who should know what would please her."
"But you're so much better than me at that kind of stuff !"
"Why ? Because I'm an omega ?"
"No, because you're intelligent and sensitive."
"And you're not ?"
"Nah, I'm a brute and your employer, therefore I can order you around to do my bidding," Jensen concluded with a smile, as if the discussion was over and he had won that argument. "When's your birthday, by the way ?"
"My own birthday ? Nothing's sure, but it's probably the 19th of July."
"Probably ?" Jensen repeated, bemused.
"You know I'm an orphan. I was found on the temple's steps, with nothing but my first name badly written on a piece of paper. Padre Jim said I couldn't have been more than a few hours old, so July 19th was declared to be my birth date."
Jared was so matter of fact about it, as if repeating a story heard and told many times already, something that had lost the power to hurt but that he still kept at bay to make sure it wouldn't.
"Gods !" Jensen swore. "How can parents abandon their children like that ?!"
"I'm an omega," Jared replied.
This too didn't seem to need a longer explanation, and it infuriated Jensen that this wonderful man, so bright and able, had accepted such a misconception as a fact. He was better than most alphas Jensen had ever met, better than the fate the combination of his biological needs and their society compelled him to.
Jensen wanted to protect the omega, to keep him safe on his land forever. Jared was home here, just as Jensen was, and the crops needed him to grow.
He would talk to the commandant, maybe even to Sheppard, and see if there was any way to get a dispensation so that Jared could stay here as long as he wished, even unmated. Here on his island, or as a professor for the new school once it was finally built, it didn't matter. It just had to be somewhere Jensen could protect him and make sure he was happy.
But in the meanwhile, he had a project to plan for a birthday to celebrate in less than two months. Jensen stood up to retreat to his studio. Before he closed the door, he turned back to Jared, who was reading again after wishing him a goodnight.
"Goodnight," he answered. "And Jared, you have to know that Misha and Mishael are your friends, too."
Jared didn't travel to Ismia every day now that he worked full time with Jensen. His previous job had been taken over by another omega from his contingent who Jared had recommended to the alpha and Lauren Tom. But he loved to come now and then, especially to buy the products he needed at the market. Everybody knew by now that he was Jensen's housekeeper, and all vendors courted him to gain a client with a reputation to pay fairly and regularly.
Jared generally chose what to buy to feed them both. For some unknown reason, Jensen had given him a list this time, full of goods they would hardly need, not to mention in such quantities. Jared's questions had remained unanswered, Jensen claiming that it would be a surprise.
He was almost done when he heard someone calling his name from the other side of the street. With a bit of annoyance, he waited for the commandant to cross the dirt road and join him. The officer looked misplaced in this area, all tricked out in his colorful uniform at odds with the everyday clothes of the vendors and buyers.
"Jared, it's a pleasure to see you."
The pleasure was anything but mutual, but Jared dipped into his well of good manners to reply graciously.
"Commandant, I trust you're doing well."
A part of him wanted to burst out loud everything he had learned recently about the slaughter of the dragons, demand an explanation and extort a promise that the killing would stop, but the more rational side of Jared knew it was futile. Jensen had pointed out very clearly all the reasons why the army would keep going on shooting field trips. The commandant would probably miss the sportsmanship of the safari too much to even think about ceasing to murder an entire species.
"I wish I could say the same about you," Morgan answered with a worried frown, "but I can see you hurt yourself."
So much for not wanting to broach the subject of dragons. Jared shook his hand to take it back from the commandant. The bruises and cuts on his arms were slowly healing, more impressive than really hurtful anyway. Except the one hematoma on his butt, which was just as hideous as it was painful to sit on. Jensen had proposed to rub an ointment on it but Jared had declined, unwilling to show him what was supposed to be one of his best assets marred with this big black blotch.
"Nothing to worry about," Jared commented, "this is only the result of my unreasonable fear when I was confronted with a dragon."
"Dear gods, what happened ?"
"Jensen was showing me his land, and I reacted stupidly because of all the lies I had heard about the chowli."
"Are you telling me there are still dragons on alpha Ackles' island ?! And he didn't protect you ?"
"There's no reason to protect me from them, Commandant, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I only got hurt because I fell when I tried to run away."
"I don't care how you got hurt, he should have protected you. That man doesn't deserve you, Jared, don't you see it ?"
The commandant had this incredible talent to piss Jared off more than anyone else with a few simple words. Jared was done with all this and he was more than ready to get back home.
"Good day, Commandant," he said before turning away.
Many, many years ago, there used to be a clavichord at the orphanage, a donation from one of the rich clans Padre Jim had convinced to look after the children. Jared had learned to play by himself then, enjoying this peculiar feeling of creating sounds that had the power to enthrall people, imagining that he would someday entice his future lover by playing for him. He couldn't read music, but he had a good ear and found it easy to replay any melody he had heard previously.
Jared hadn't played since the instrument had fallen apart a few years later, but he had been delighted to realize that Jensen was the happy owner of a gorgeous model. It had a painted cover - a very bucolic scene with light touches of greens, fiery oranges, and passionate reds - but the most pleasant surprise was the six octaves to play instead of the usual four. Best of all, its acoustics were really phenomenal.
Jared had patiently relearned, trying for the best way to place his hands now that the length of his fingers had almost doubled, and he must have done something right as Jensen, whenever he was around, always ended up in the music room a few minutes after Jared had begun his exercises. The alpha had offered to tutor Jared if he ever wanted to learn to read music and had taught him scales already, as well as a few easy pieces. Jensen had learned the clavichord and the bass violin when he was a kid, as per his father's wishes, but he claimed to be more of a singer. He still had to prove it.
Jared had gone to mass last week, and the melody of a particular hymn had entered his mind, never to leave again. He was proud to be able to play it now, although the words eluded him and he could only hum along. It was downright annoying, the lyrics had seemed to speak to him in such a personal way.
"I know that one," Jensen announced, sitting next to Jared on the little bench. "Our Padre used to play it at mass, every time. It's called White Light."
Jared began again, turning to Jensen when his voice suddenly rose, deep and melodious.
"There's a white light that carries me home,
Helps me focus when I am alone
Keeps on teaching me how to be loved
And to love."
The emotion was palpable through Jensen's voice, raising goose bumps on Jared's skin. Jensen hadn't tried to boast, he was a singer in the best sense of the word.
"She's the good light that carries me on
Helps me focus on where I've gone wrong
Now you've reached me
It's time to forgive and forget
Onwards to forever
Our minds belong together
Tonight, this land
Belongs to me
The shifting sands
The shining seas
Won't you help my soul to grow?
To heal, it's all that I know."
The silence was thick when the song ended and Jared swiftly chose another one.
Jared had told him about his encounter with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in town yesterday, but Jensen couldn't believe that the pedantic fool had pursued the omega here, not after all the ways Jared had tried to make him understand that they wouldn't happen. And with two boats full of soldiers, no less, who were disembarking right this moment without Jensen's authorization.
"Stay right where you are !" he bellowed as he got nearer to the shore.
The commandant turned around slowly to come face to face with Jensen.
"Alpha Ackles," he greeted Jensen formally with a dip of his head, to show respect and deference to the owner of the ground he was standing on. "I brought my soldiers today to rid your island of the remaining dragons."
Jensen could kind of see the physical appeal of the military man, and why Jared might have been tempted to give him a chance. He could also see the narrowness of his stares and the clenching of his jaw, the constant frown on his brow. This was a man used to being listened to and obeyed, a man ready to wipe out an animal species to gain a few minutes to flirt with a man who had already told him to stop bothering.
"I know why your alphas are here, Commandant, and I also know why you are here. Neither are wanted on my island, and I demand that you all go."
"I must insist, alpha. Omega Padalecki related to me his frightful attack by a dragon. Had I known the species was still roaming your island, I would have made it a personal mission to come and clean out the infestation earlier."
"This infestation as you put it, Commandant, is a natural species of the region, one that will never attack if they're not provoked. The Visnian tribes have even proved for centuries how easy it is to tame those so very frightful beasts. My island will remain a sanctuary for them, that's why I won't allow your regiment to come and shoot for absolutely no reason, other than your dubious purpose. As for Jared, this island is also a sanctuary for him, a place to feel safe and at home."
There was no need to expand on the conclusion, Morgan was bright enough to infer easily that he was the one Jared was trying to keep at bay by living here. But he was not to be so easily deterred.
"You know, Ackles, if you want to keep the boy to yourself, there's a very simple way to lay your claim. You have but to ask, that's what he came here for, after all. Unless you're just trying to lead him on ?"
"This is really none of your concern, Commandant. And you should know Jared better, he's his own man, and very much capable of leading his life by his own rules, whatever you might think of omegas. But maybe you're the one having a hard time accepting his autonomy. Or perhaps the way he rejected your offer. I can recognize jealousy when I smell it."
Morgan's demeanor turned much colder, the man drawing to his full height, back ramrod straight and menacing frown.
"I see there's no reasoning with you. Just think about what I said, alpha. If you never intend to do something about Jared's crush on you, be honest and let him know. He deserves to be able to find happiness with someone who really appreciates him."
"You say appreciate, I say love. Jared will never settle for anything else, and I respect that."
Lesser alphas might have backed down in front of the barely-veiled threat as Morgan came one step closer, but Jensen had gone toe to toe with scarier people in his previous, city-bound life. He knew how to fight, the dirty way, both physically and mentally, and military ranks had never impressed him.
"I meant what I said, Commandant. You're not welcome on my island, nor is your army. I'm politely requesting you all to leave. Right now. I trust we won't need to go to the Intendant to argue any official complaint, am I right ?"
Morgan's attitude all but froze. It was no great secret that the regiment's commanding officer and the Intendant pretty much hated each other. Morgan, for all his flaws and his pedantry, was an honest man who believed in divine justice and his mission, whereas there was no one and nothing in the Islands that Sheppard hadn't used and abused for his own advantage.
Morgan also had to know that Sheppard always tried to spare the Ackles alpha whenever it didn't clash with his own interests, because Jensen meant money and power, both here and back on the mainland.
"Very well," Morgan slowly acknowledged. "I apologize for the disturbance. Rest assured that neither my soldiers nor I meant any inconvenience and that we'll stand at your service, should you need our help with the dragons in the future. I pray you know what you're doing, for your sake as well as your omega's."
The commandant signaled retreat to his soldiers waiting a short distance away for the conclusion of this subdued alpha duel. They began to go back to their boats, re-embarking silently and efficiently, with an economy of movements that showed this was something often practiced.
"A word of advice, alpha Ackles, if I may."
Jensen didn't really want to listen to any more advice from this particular man, but he felt it was his turn to show his goodwill. He forced himself into an open attitude and waited for Morgan's words of wisdom.
"If you really intend to prevent the army from disembarking on your island at any time and for any reason, I suggest that you affix a no-trespassing sign on various positions along your island's shores, especially the pontoons. Some of those signs specify the army isn't welcome. It's not foolproof but it might help. On the other hand, you might not see us coming in times of need."
Morgan moved back without waiting for Jensen's reaction. Once on his boat, he turned his gaze towards the farmhouse where Jared was still hiding.
"Give my best regards to omega Padalecki," the commandant concluded, incapable of containing the words inside as the boat detached from the shore.
Jensen had warned him they would be away for a day-long trip. Waking up at dawn to find his mate already up and the goods he had bought two days before piled in their biggest dinghy, Jared had wondered why they weren't moving until he saw Misha approaching Tellia's shore on his own close-to-overloaded boat.
Jensen still refused to tell where he was taking him, that annoying little smile of the one in the know firmly planted on his face.
They left then, Jensen taking the oars at first with the promise that he would let Jared help later on. Misha proposed to let his turn pass, saying he would offer it to Jared if he thought Jensen would let him. Misha's boat was tied behind by a few inches of rope, following gently in the contrary but even current, its weight slowing them down.
The early conversation died quickly, Jared keen on observing all the islands they came across. Getting used to Ismia's flora, a tiny sample of the Islands' richness, hadn't necessarily prepared him for the explosion of color and beauty they were passing by.
A few settlers saluted them, usually the ones inhabiting the smallest patches of land, and they also met two fishermen. But as they went, Jensen led by his knowledge of the area as well as his compass, the number of islands they could see began to dwindle. Jensen then offered Jared to take his place. For almost an hour, Jared rowed, travelling through the endless river and trusting Jensen's direction.
He realized when Misha replaced him that they had been approaching an impenetrable cluster of trees, so thick and opaque that Jared was unable to determine if one island or more had given life to this jungle. Miles long, it was dense and dark from the outside, but the alphas clearly knew their way in and Jared discovered that, once inside, the light of the sun managed to filter through the canopy. He remembered then seeing some of Jensen's scenery paintings displaying strange dots of light and understood this was what his mate had struggled to render on his canvas.
The trip through the jungle lasted another hour. They made small talk, Jensen pointing out to him the trees and animals he recognized, so much information that blurred in Jared's mind into a potent wish to stay here forever and learn to know the Islands intimately, the way they deserved.
They finally emerged on the other side, the thick vegetation thinning to give total access to the river again. The heat had gotten worse during their time under the protection of the foliage, and Jensen soon replaced Misha for the last leg of their voyage.
They passed three seemingly deserted islands before they came ashore on a little beach on the fourth one. Here too, the world seemed devoid of human beings, the silence disrupted only by the murmur of the wind and the songs of the birds.
Despite the fact he still didn't know why they were here, Jared nonetheless helped his friends to load the wagon waiting there, hidden behind a wall of bamboos, with the goods they had brought.
"Hellooooo," an unknown voice behind his back had Jared jumping.
He turned to see a young and pretty blond man - an omega, his scent alerted him - walk straight to Jensen to hug him hard.
Jared hated him on sight.
The man turned to Misha then and hugged him too before he dared to look at Jared suspiciously.
"What is this ?" he asked Jensen. "A new resident for Omega Island ?"
"No," Jensen laughed. "This is my friend Jared who came to help us. Jared, this is Brandon."
They nodded to each other, unsure of the other's place in Jensen's life. Jensen probably smelt the awkwardness as well as felt it, for he brought a comforting hand to the small of Jared's back that immediately settled him. Brandon could still smell that Jensen hadn't claimed him, but the alpha's attitude was one of possession and support.
The islander received the message loud and clear, and turned his glare to burn Misha with his resentment when he heard the other alpha's chuckle.
"Come on, Brandon. You don't stand a chance."
"That remains to be seen," Brandon replied, but it felt more like a goading than a real challenge.
"Jensen, what's this place ?" Jared asked as soon as the other omega and Misha had begun to walk away with the fully loaded wagon pulled by a draft horse.
"I'm sorry you didn't get a better welcome, Brandon has always been a bit of a brat. But he said it, this is an island for omegas. The ones I've met too late, that I couldn't help in good time. You're neither the first nor the last, I'm sure, to find yourself in a bit of a predicament after the first two months in the Islands have passed and no husband has magically appeared. Not all of those omegas are as strong as you, or maybe as resourceful ; some of them end up on the street. I never thought it was an acceptable situation, I had to do something and help them get out of there. Hence this island."
"Why didn't you help them settle in Ismia ?"
"That's what I had planned to do at first. Opening a shelter for them, and also for those omegas who had nowhere else to live, to be able to offer a solution before the worst happened to them too. I was working with the previous padre, who was as concerned as me with this problem, and he dissuaded me from doing this, saying that it would encourage the alphas to avoid marriage even more. This padre used to give shelter to the omegas in the temple back then, he was a good man, not like the current one who is more about making sure he will get his subsidies from Sheppard every month. Before he died, the old padre made me promise to find other ways to help the omegas, and that's how I came up with the idea for the Omega Fund. As for this island, it was a way to let the omegas heal far from their abusers, but also to hide them from the law if they didn't want to go back to the mainland after the end of their King's grace."
Jensen watched Jared with a touch of worry.
"I thought you'd like to come here and see what we've done, help with it all. Was I wrong ?"
"No," Jared answered truthfully, throat a bit tight. "I was just thinking… You're still taking me there, right after I was the reason why the commandant led his army to your island ?"
"Were you responsible for alpha Morgan pursuing you ? Did you ask him to come visit you ?"
"No, but I seem to make things so much more complicated for you."
"You don't. Life is complicated."
"I don't know. Maybe I'm not that trustworthy."
"I'd trust you with my life, Jared, and I wanted you to see this. Come on."
Jared received a warmer welcome from the other omegas, and even Brandon's attitude became more friendly as the day went on. They unloaded the wagon and brought everything inside the community house. Then they shared a good and simple meal prepared with the island's harvests. The omegas lived in quasi-autarky thanks to the fruits of their labor. Jensen, Misha, and the few other people in on the secret only provided what the omegas couldn't grow or breed themselves.
Jared learned a lot listening to them, while the alphas went around to help with anything that needed muscles and maybe some talent the omegas didn't possess. The garden was positively delicious, and it gave Jared a lot of ideas about the way to enhance Jensen's on Tellia. He had long wished to give him this gift, or maybe this souvenir of the time they were together. He now knew what could still be done by the end of spring, and his basket was full of bulbs and rhizome long before he left, as well as two beautiful bouquets, one for him and one for Mishael.
Jensen smiled delightfully at the smell, but Misha seemed unconcerned, though Jared brought the flowers to his nose.
"Don't bother, sweet boy, my sense of smell is nonexistent. I find myself lucky that I can admire those shimmering colors, as well as the elegance and delicateness of the corollas and stems."
"You can't smell ?" Jared repeated, stunned. "I'm sorry, this is so rude and insensitive of me. Please forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive, and no reason to feel bad for me either. You can't miss what you never had and it allowed me to see people before I smelled them. Omegas will always be more to me than the sum of their pheromones."
"First time I saw Misha, he was playing the piper in my garden while I was sleeping naked in my hammock on the balcony. Awkward doesn't begin to cover it. I asked if he was the Pied Piper and he said that was his cousin twice-removed."
Jared snorted, that was Misha alright !
"So I asked what he was doing here," Jensen continued, "if there was some kind of animal I didn't know about that he had to lead away from my land. He answered that he wanted to know the owner of the most beautiful and spiritual island north of the delta."
"Spiritual ?" Jared wondered from the comfort of the couch.
They had been back at home for a short while, both tired and ready to retire in their bedrooms, but Jared just couldn't let go of Jensen after such a day.
"Yeah," Jensen replied, "Misha swears that because he can't smell, he's able instead to feel vibrations, some sort of energy coming off of anything, and that he can tell if something is good or evil."
"So what's his verdict ? Is the island good or evil ?"
"Good, of course, and he claims that's why I was attracted to Tellia ; not because I wanted something big to have space to myself, but because our vibrations meshed, a bit like two people in love."
Like true mates, Jared thought. He wished Jensen would give himself as freely to his omega as he had to his island. Jensen regretted he wasn't a very good farmer, but his dedication and love for the land shone through every one of the ways he took care of her.
Jared couldn't help wanting to see such devotion focused on himself. Jared had no doubt Jensen would be just as wonderful and caring as a mate.
"So you see why I asked him to help when I built the o-shelter," Jensen continued. "We improvised ourselves as architects and masons, with the help of one of the omegas who had lived with a real mason for a while and had learned one thing or three during that time. All the other ones helped too. This was their home and they wanted to be able to say they had built it with their own hands."
"You know," Jared mused, "I get why the padre thought it was better to encourage the alphas to marry the omegas, but I think he was wrong anyway. Our society is all about keeping omegas at home, serving their families, so maybe that was his aim. You were right to think that omegas needed a shelter on Ismia, to prevent a fate worse than death. You don't know what it means to live with everyone constantly judging what you're doing and thinking, convinced that they know better than you, and then doing nothing when they see you falling. I wish you had persevered and created that shelter."
Jensen was silent for a while, lost in his own thinking.
"I can't tell what would be best," he sighed in the end. "I couldn't even fight Sheppard on that subject now, not since he came up with the numerus clausus rule for omega boarding houses. I didn't give him much of a choice when I found a loophole about the school, so I have to pick my battles. I'll see what I can do when the dust has settled."
This was as good as a promise for Jared. He knew Jensen enough to know that it would be done.
Masterpost | Return to part 6 | Continue to part 8