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Continue to part 9 "How do you want me to pose this time ? Provided I don't fall asleep right away."
Jensen watched him long enough without answering for Jared to feel embarrassingly self-conscious.
"Jensen ?"
"I do have an idea, but I'm not sure how much you'll appreciate it."
"Try me."
"Alright. I'd like to paint you shirtless. Half-reclining in bed maybe, as if you had fallen asleep waiting for your lover. See, you wouldn't even have to be afraid of falling asleep for real. What do you say ?"
It said a lot about Jared and his love for Jensen that he wanted to agree, just like that. No discussion, no question. He wanted to disrobe in front of his mate and please him. It was somewhat painful to fight himself and remember that they were not mated, not yet, that he could still say no to his alpha's desires.
"If I say yes, will you show it to someone else or will it be just for you ?"
"Just for me, Jared, and you if you wish to see it."
Really, this was Jared's only concern. He took his shirt off slowly, awkwardly, and asked where Jensen wanted him to lie.
Jensen had been about to summon his usual dealer to sell the pilso harvest when Jared had stopped him. He was intrigued by what his mate had said about the fruit and wanted to try to transform it on his own.
Easier said than done, but he wouldn't give up, and he figured that Mishael, who had lived here for several years already, could probably help him.
"At Jensen's suggestion," he told her the next time she visited, "I've been trying to make jam with these pilso but so far, it's a bust. It tastes either like water or papier-mâché."
"I have a wonderful recipe at home, something the Visnians have been doing for centuries…"
Mishael stopped abruptly, hand on her mouth.
"What ?" Jared asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I should have told you about the Visnians, but you're so easy to talk to, and Jensen seems to trust you…"
"I still don't understand…"
Jensen's voice interrupted him.
"You can tell him whatever you want, Mishael. I do trust Jared, and you should, too. He will never do anything to put the Visnians in danger."
Jensen approached the two omegas to take a bowl from the dish closet. Jared was too busy grinning like a loon at his words to realize what Jensen had done before the alpha had almost left the kitchen. But then the light went on.
"What are you doing with that bowl ?" he stopped Jensen at the door. "Don't tell me you're going to use it for your paint ?!"
"But I need it !"
"I don't care, you're not ruining another bowl this way. Give it back and use your own stuff."
"But they're all encrusted," Jensen explained with a pout.
"So wash them. You're still not getting one of my bowls."
"You said you wouldn't change all my habits," Jensen whined.
"Well, I lied."
Mishael was still covering her mouth as she watched Jensen bringing the bowl back to safety in Jared's hands, but it was obvious she was now trying to hide her laughter. Jensen left with a wounded expression on his face that Jared thought was too cute for any adult alpha. He would one day manage to teach him to wash his bowls and his brushes, instead of constantly buying new ones.
Jared turned back to Mishael to find that she was now watching him with the same amusement.
"What's so funny ?"
"Subtext, Jared. Subtext is always more revealing than what is said aloud."
Jared stared at her with no more idea as to what she was alluding to.
"Never mind," she concluded, "I'll get you this recipe, and I swear you'll never eat any other jam after that."
Jared rowed lazily in the general direction indicated by Jensen. He knew they were going for lunch to see two of Jensen's best friends, but that was pretty much all the information he had gleaned so far.
"So what's their name ? Are they a couple ?"
"Yes, they are. And they're both called Samantha, alpha Ferris and omega Smith. One drunken night, soon after their mating, someone who shall remain nameless decided it would be clever to call the omega Sam-O, and the alpha Sam-A. So that now, like it or not, they're known as Sammo and Samma by everyone around these parts."
"Misha, right ?"
"My lips are sealed. But he was there indeed."
"Misha and Mishael, Sammo and Samma, are all your couple friends required to bear a similar first name ?" Jared asked, amused.
"Absolutely ! If you ever get married, your mate will have to be called Jerad if you want us to keep being friends."
Jared shot him a dirty look.
"Okay, not funny, I'm sorry."
Jared thought they were both J's anyway, and that had to count for something.
The two women were a hoot. It was easy to see they had fun together and wanted all their friends to share their enthusiasm for life. They had to be strong, for two women alpha and omega would always be considered a lost cause and frowned upon for the very little chance they stood at giving life together. Statistics were against them, just as the secular mores. Incidentally, Padre Lehne, consistent in his bigotry, had refused to officiate at any mating ceremony to celebrate their union, hoping in vain to discourage them.
They didn't seem to care, as long as they had each other, and friends who never hesitated to show their support and affection.
"Those holier-than-thou alphas and self-righteous omegas can all go screw themselves !" Samma exclaimed, her only comment on the topic. "At least they'll have fun for once."
You didn’t need long to realize that Jensen was infinitely close to their heart, through all the teasing and ribbing they inflicted on each other.
"I taught this kid all he knows," Sammo revealed in a fake conspiratorial tone heard by everyone, and that's how Jared finally learned that Sammo had been Jensen's housekeeper for quite a while before she met and fell in love with Samma.
"You left too early in his apprenticeship, he's relapsed since then," Jared lamented.
"His paint ?" Sammo guessed.
"Everywhere, right up into my kitchen."
They both tsk-tsked at Jensen, who put his hand against his heart and acted wounded by their alliance.
The Sams had a much smaller island than Jensen, but they didn't do much planting anyway. Jared was given the tour of their farm and discovered that they specialized in leeches.
"Leeches ?!"
"Absolutely," Jensen confirmed. "There's this endemic variety that you can find on many islands. Big and tasty, very juicy."
"That's disgusting !" Jared began.
But then he carefully scrutinized Jensen's face.
"Wait, are you making fun of me ?"
Jensen couldn't help laughing then.
"You are, you dick !"
"Don't be mean, Jensen," Sammo menaced like a mother disappointed in her child.
Jensen snorted.
"I'd only be mean if I thought Jared unable to read me like an open book. He's too smart to fall for my balderdash."
"And don't you forget it !" Jared warned him with a smile denying any heat in his words.
"You boys are too cute," Samma mocked them before she brought Jared to an artificial pond where he could make out a myriad of small bodies.
"Our species live in the water, we have about two thousand individuals in each pond."
"So what do you use them for ?"
"Main use is as fertilizer producers. Leeches do not need to feed often, out in the wild. If we overfeed them just a little bit, they exude some viscous liquid that is highly sought by all farmers here."
"What about the other uses ?"
"A few are sacrificed to the medicine altar. Like their mainland cousins, doctors here need them for bloodletting. But the Visnians who use them - the Islands' leeches, not the continental species - also taught us to prepare a very particular ointment, based on that same fluid they secrete to repel fellow creatures, that you slather all over your body to ensure they won't bite you."
Samma was unstoppable, passionate about her work and her livestock farming. Jared couldn't shake the disgust he felt and Sammo recognized his dubious looks, probably from her own experience.
"You get used to it," she assured him.
Right. Let them have all the leeches of the Islands and he'd happily keep the crops.
"I was wondering…"
Jared stopped, not sure how to tackle the subject.
"Go on," Jensen encouraged him. "I told you, you can ask me anything."
"Okay. The point is, I don't understand why no one really talks about the Visnians. Mishael wasn't even sure she could tell me about one of their recipes before you said she could trust me. So what's the big deal ? The population in Ismia doesn't really mingle with them. But you, and Misha, Samma, you're clearly close to them enough to know their customs and use their knowledge, and still it seems that talking about them is forbidden. Maybe even dangerous. And I don't get it."
Jensen took the time to sit next to him on the couch before he answered.
"I wouldn't say dangerous, and we do talk about the Visnians, just not to anybody, or about anything. But the fact is, Misha, Samma or me, and some other people you don't know yet, we're kind of wary of the army. Possibly even more of the Intendant, and by extension the King, if they happen to realize someday that, as numerous as the Islands are, there's a huge continent right next door that is just there for the taking. The Visnians wouldn't be able to fight off Morgan's regiment ; they have no army, no weapons. All the Visnians I know are peaceful people. They have little to no interest in our society, but they don't see the danger looming either. They'd be totally blindsided, should the King suddenly order to requisition their land. They would lose everything in a heartbeat."
"Shouldn't we tell them in this case ? Also, help your fellow settlers learn about them, so that they can make the right choice if the worst comes to pass ?"
Jared remembered vividly the commandant explaining how distributing free food would have the remote settlers more amenable to the government. Maybe they could do something like that to bring awareness of the Visnian culture to the colonists in a non-threatening way.
"That's what we're trying to do," Jensen replied, nodding all along, "slowly, and very carefully. When we distribute the anti-leech ointment, we make sure to let it be known that it was shared by the Visnian people. When we explain to new settlers how to cultivate some local vegetable, we never forget to mention that the Visnians taught us in the first place. But it doesn't nullify the problem, because we have little to no impact over the King's will, and we don't control what kind of reports are delivered to him and his ministers. I fear one day will come when all the Islands will be occupied and the government will need more land to keep expanding the colony. Maybe not during our lives, but it will happen. The Visnians have much more to lose than us in this confrontation. I'm not only talking about their land, I include all their ways, their customs."
Jensen's voice, fraught with worried premonition, had Jared shivering in fear.
"Maybe we could still live side by side ?" he tried to reassure himself. "You can't be certain that it would end up badly for them."
"You're right, I can't. But I see the way the army exterminates the chowli. I know how much Morgan misses the endless war his life used to be before he settled in Ismia by the King's order. I hear how difficult it is for his officers to keep the soldiers in line, when they have nothing to do outside of uneventful patrols and repetitive exercises. I see proofs of Sheppard's greediness every day. It all adds up to a depressing conclusion, one I wish I could ignore, but I've never been good at fooling myself for very long."
It was definitely depressing, a fate Jared didn't care to imagine, even though he didn't know any Visnian personally.
"I guess I'll have to keep hoping for the best, then. I don't understand war anyway, or the need to steal from others. I don't understand why we can't all live peacefully."
"I wish we were all as sane as you," Jensen smiled as he stood up to get back to his initial destination. Jared called him out as he was moving away.
"You keep locking yourself in your studio in the evening. Soon, I'm going to feel neglected."
Jensen didn't even try to hide his smirk.
"Good try, Jared, but I'm not showing you these paintings."
"Why ? You always show me."
"This one's a commission."
"So ?"
"So if I were painting for you, would you like someone else to see it first ?"
Jared frowned, and then pouted.
"I don't like when you make sense. Why are you so logical ?"
"Because I'm an alpha, of course."
Perfect contrast to his earlier tension, Jensen's smile was so big and happy, waiting for his companion's arguments, that Jared's coherent thoughts came to an abrupt halt to get lost in lusty daydreaming.
"I promise to show them once they're done and completely finished, is that okay with you ?"
"Alright," Jared grumbled. "But you could at least tell me who you're painting for."
"So that you'd bother them with your puppy eyes until they gave you permission to look ? I don't think so."
Defeated, Jared got back to his book, looking for the last passage he had been reading, but Jensen changed his mind and turned back to sit next to him once more.
"I've thought about our conversation the other day, about the way you were found and the fact that you only know your first name."
"That's right. What about it ?"
"Well, stop me if I'm being too nosy, but where does your surname come from, then ? Why Padalecki ?"
"There's no great mystery. The orphanage survived mostly thanks to private donations, the royal subsidies were not significant enough. So Padre Jim would look for what he called sponsor families and offered them a way to reach closer to the divine. Each family would make a substantial donation in the particular name of a kid, helping to raise and feed them, and this kid would in exchange take their surname, to become the shining beacon of those people's generosity. My sponsor family was called Padalecki, hence the name."
"Were they nice people ?"
"I wouldn't know, I never met them."
It shut Jensen up for a short while.
"You know," the alpha began again hesitantly, "I don't think I'll ever get what it means to be an orphan, to be raised with so many other kids, knowing you won't ever be the most important person in the world for at least your own parents. I don't think I can understand, even if you were to tell me your whole life story, because I didn't feel it in my heart and in my bones. But…"
Jensen faltered and Jared laced their fingers together to encourage him to talk.
"I never told anyone here," Jensen began anew, eyes on their joined hands, "but my two brothers… one of my brothers died when he was still a toddler, and the two who remained are my half-brothers, the results of my father's wandering moods. He brought them home so that my o-dad would raise them. My dad was so outraged at first, and I kind of understand him, but every time I hear you, all I can think is that I'm so happy Father didn't abandon Josh and Eric !"
Back at the orphanage, Jared never had anyone he felt so close to that he couldn't imagine losing them. But he loved Jensen now, and he could relate all too well with that fear.
"That's one thing at least your father did well," he concluded, satisfied for his mate.
"Why are you looking at me like that ?" Jared asked as he stood up straight from thinning out the galciusis he had sown not long after his arrival.
"I was imagining my next painting."
"Oh, so you've finished that mystery commission of yours ?" Jared gently mocked.
"I have, and I'm rather happy with the outcome, so I've decided to indulge myself and paint my favorite subject again."
"Is the subject aware of your decision ?"
"Not yet, I plan to tell him all about it tomorrow when I show him another beautiful part of Tellia."
"You would stoop so low as to seduce him with your island's beauty ?"
"No, of course not. I would use magic."
Jensen left on these enigmatic words, displaying a contented and quite annoying smile. True to himself, he refused to tell Jared anything more before they left the next morning for another excursion. Even then, Jared only managed to learn that they were headed to a pilgrimage site. They rode for two hours in a direction Jared hadn't travelled yet and, as always, the gorgeous scenery helped to keep his mind off the surprise Jensen had cooked up for him.
The site was not much to look at on a first impression, a simple clearing in the woods they were going through. But Jensen said it was supposed to be a magical place. The boulder especially, sitting imposingly in the middle of the meadow. He called it a fertility rock, or so the ancient Visnians thought, who had placed some of these rocks in a few islands for the pilgrims who found it hard to become parents. It was easy to imagine how the young couples climbed the boulder and joined on its flattened top to make love, benefiting from the Earth's positive vibrations.
"Would you agree to take off your breeches and undergarment," Jensen asked, "to lie on your face on the rock, arms wide-spread, as in prayer for the blessing of a child ? I would cover your butt with a towel."
"Do you want me entirely naked ?" Jared heard himself propose instead.
His voice was far deeper than usual, it belonged to a part of himself that Jared wasn't sure he recognized, that same part licentious enough, or madly in love, that had the courage to offer such a perverted position. Only an omega of no virtue would consider shedding all their clothes for an artist.
"You would ?" Jensen hesitated, unsure of Jared's real commitment.
Jared was terribly aware that such a decision could only corroborate any number of alphas' low opinions about omegas, their perception of them as weak flesh and docile mates. But he knew Jensen wanted it, wanted him, and somehow that was enough. It was the best way to prove to Jensen that he would do anything for him, even out of the bounds of mating or marriage. Anything for his love.
He had pleaded for a different treatment of the omegas. Now was the time to prove that this omega was ready for a change.
Jared hardly knew what to do with himself, as he had been forbidden to do anything on his special day. Jensen was at his beck and call, running around to make sure that Jared would never forget his twenty-first birthday.
He had been able to sleep late, Jensen bringing him his breakfast to eat in bed. They had played music and sung for a while, then Jensen had served a light lunch. A quick nap for both of them on the patio had led to several matches of pall-mall in the garden that Jensen had prepared the previous night with Jared none the wiser. The alpha had bought the game on a whim a few days earlier during a trip to Ismia, and he seemed quite satisfied with his purchase. Jared was glad too, if only because Jensen had to come close to him many times, encircling him with his arms to correct the way he held the mallet or help him shoot through the iron arch. Jensen didn't have to know that Jared had a pretty good aim on his own.
Still the afternoon kept on getting better, that's what Jared thought when Jensen sat him down on the couch, back in the house, and told him to close his eyes. Jared heard him move around but he didn't try to cheat.
"You can look now."
Several parcels lay on the coffee table, wrapped in cloth of various colors, all tied with a different-looking ribbon and a big knot, like festive candy balloons. Such a beautiful view that Jared didn't dare touching for fear of destroying it.
"Go on, open them up !" Jensen got impatient as he sat next to Jared.
Torn out of his trance-like state, Jared chose one of the parcels and drew on its ribbon. The cloth folded all around to reveal a vast quantity of small pieces carved by a human hand and that obviously belonged to a puzzle ; each piece was painted in a very recognizable style.
"Did you… did you paint me a puzzle ?"
"More precisely, I did the painting and I had the board cut by a professional. I knew you were tired of the too-simple ones we had found in town. This ought to keep you busy for a while."
"My gods, are they all a different puzzle ? All a different painting ?"
"The ten of them. My commission."
"Your… gods, I love you !"
Jared threw himself at Jensen to steal a long kiss. All of Jensen's mysteries had turned out to be fantastic surprises and this one was the most beautiful of all. A gift so personal, so keenly thought and prepared, that Jared had to believe he meant more to Jensen than a simple housekeeper should. Every day on Tellia brought a little drop of hope to Jared's well of optimism. This amounted to a summer storm.
"Glad you like your birthday gift," Jensen joked when Jared allowed him to resurface and breathe.
"I love it. I'm just sad that I probably won't have time to do them all before I have to leave."
Jensen put a finger under his chin to make Jared look at him.
"Jared, if you want to stay, I can file an application to the Intendant asking for you to stay. I can even go to the commandant, I'm pretty sure he'll approve the motion. And my recommendation could help too."
"You would do that for me ? You've done so much already."
"Of course. It's very selfish of me, I don't want to let you go."
Not a summer storm, a downpour.
"So it's decided, I'll talk to Sheppard and Morgan next time I go to Ismia. Now you're going to play for a bit and I'm going to prepare dinner."
Jensen served him an aperitif while he was waiting. Jared had agreed that today was a good day to try something more alcoholic than the tinel, and he felt his head spinning a bit as he laid out all the pieces of the first puzzle on his special table. Happiness reinforced the feeling : Jensen wanted him to stay !
He didn't get far outlining the puzzle before Jensen called him to the dinner table with his unfinished glass that he filled right away. Jensen had done well with the meal, offering all of Jared's very favorite dishes. The bread was the last of the batch Jared had baked this week, copying the shape of a rake to amuse his mate. On this special occasion, he got to eat all the ends he wanted.
By the time he was back on the couch, Jared was past slightly tipsy and he had no intention to stop drinking, for he knew this would give him the courage to act. When Jensen came to sit next to him, Jared didn't lose time in small talk before he turned to his alpha and kissed him again.
"Thank you, for everything," he said, and then attacked Jensen's mouth once more.
Jensen went with the flow for a long moment, giving as good as he got, but when Jared's hands began to wander around his body and he felt he would soon be incapable of holding off, he gripped the omega's wrists and made him stop.
"Jared, you have to calm down."
"Why don't you want me ?" Jared protested, still kissing him, too loose with alcohol to keep the hurt in. "We're perfect for each other, we don't like to be told what we should do or think, but we always seem to agree, always complement each other, we'd be perfect together."
"Listen to me, Jared. You are perfect, I know that, and maybe when I was younger I wouldn't have given you the choice, I would have mated you the moment I met you, right there, right then. I'm not that kind of alpha anymore, I've gone through too much stuff, and I promised myself I wouldn't mate because I didn't want to put any omega or another child through what I endured. It wouldn't be fair to them."
"But it's fair to me ? I'm not the people who hurt you, you know that. I'm the man who… who loves you, your omega. And it's not only biological, we've taken the time to know each other, and the more we do, the more I'm attracted to you. And I thought it was the same for you."
Jensen stopped keeping himself back to take Jared in his arms. The omega was beyond hurting, he felt rejected and unworthy, and Jensen had the power to do something about it.
"It is the same. I'm… I'm falling in love with you too, Jared, and I don't know what to do about it. I'm not trying to hurt you, you have to know that, but I have to think about me too. You're asking me to make a decision that will have repercussions on our whole lives, something we'll never be able to change back. I need more time. I'm not like you, I have no certainty beyond my feelings."
Jared had cuddled against him, his face plastered against Jensen's neck to inhale his scent, and the alpha could feel him calm down gradually.
"I'm sorry I spoiled your birthday," Jensen added, his hands stroking the omega's back and the nape of his neck to soothe him some more.
"You didn't spoil it, it was the best birthday ever. My first birthday celebration."
"Really ?" Jensen asked, measuring once again the very different lives they had led.
No wonder Jared knew what he wanted if he never had anything before, whereas Jensen still struggled to know what he needed to get rid of and what was worth keeping.
"Really. Can I ask for something more ?"
"Of course, anything."
"I promise I won't push, but I don't want to sleep alone tonight. Can I stay with you ?"
This was not a sacrifice, and he had promised anything.
"Alright, you're welcome to my room, and we'll both keep our hands to ourselves."
"I'm sick and tired of caring for those bastards you keep bringing home. How old is that one ? I bet he's as old as Jensen. You were fucking some whore behind my back by that time already, while I was pregnant with your alpha heir ?!"
"You don't know what you're talking about. Stop being a drama queen. You're an omega, you're supposed to care for any child. This is a child. I'm giving you the opportunity to do what you do best without the pregnancy you've never failed to tell me how much you hated. So be what you were born to be and stop turning my life into hell !"
The images took him then to his little brother's nursery, and his o-dad bent over Jack's crib.
"Nappy, what you doing ?"
"It's nothing, darling, go back to sleep."
"What happened to Jack, Nappy ? He's all blue."
"I told you, Jensen, it's nothing. Go back to your bed and let Nappy deal."
"What's happening here, and why is Jensen still up ?" The booming voice of his impatient father.
"I don't know, Matlin. I found the kids here and Jack doesn't seem well."
"Jensen, what did you do ?"
"I didn't do nothing, Father. I promise, I was in my bed…"
"Jack ! Matlin, he's not breathing anymore ! Do something, call the doctor ! Jack !!!"
And then the inevitable fight with his Father, right before he left Ismia to never come back, right before he settled on Tellia.
"I never touched or poisoned my brother, and you know it. All my life, you kept me on a leash like I was a danger to my family, when you know perfectly well what happened."
"You're right, I know. But it wouldn't have done any good to put your o-dad in a jail, you and your brothers needed him. I had a valuable bargaining chip with him in this, the power to take his only remaining child far away from him if he ever did something to my other children. Whereas nobody would have done anything against a three-year-old kid like you. And then there was no investigation, the doctor thought it was just one of those terrible cases of crib death, probably because he couldn't imagine someone killing his own alpha infant. It was best not to talk about it anymore. I got to keep my heir and my family, and that was all that mattered to me."
"Did you ever cry for Jack's death ?"
"Of course I did. I'm not a monster, Jensen, but I'm a pragmatist. I had to protect you."
"And for that, you lied to me all those years. I grew up thinking you believed I had killed my own brother, and you left Josh and Eric under Nappy's care after he had tried to kill one of them."
He couldn't help sobbing aloud, but it was Jared lovingly repeating his name that called him back to awareness.
That's how the dam broke and Jensen told Jared all about his lost childhood. How his already fragile omega-dad had killed his own child with a poisoned toy in trying to get rid of the bastards he had been ordered to take care of. How both his parents had pretended to believe, all these years since he was three, that Jensen was the one to suffocate his little brother in a fit of jealousy. How he had grown up in such a deleterious atmosphere, stuck between two controlling parents, protected only by the love of his two remaining brothers. How he had run away as far as possible after this last, huge fight with the patriarch who was so sure it was nothing but late teenage rebellion and that his heir would come back sooner or later. How Jensen had definitely escaped to live the life of a hermit, far from people who lied and manipulated and didn't love you in the end.
Jared held him in his arms and listened to his disjointed confession with no judging look, no condemning word. As dawn infiltrated the world around them, Jensen and Jared slowly fell back into sleep, entwined on the hammock, over the land that had helped both men to find again a real measure of peace.
He couldn't believe he had told Jared everything about his parents, about the veiled accusations laid on him all his life. About his shame for abandoning his brothers, and for not being strong enough to fight back earlier.
He couldn't believe it and yet he felt better, lighter, like he had slayed some real dragon and won. A bit knocked out, too, but mostly okay. Still worthy of Jared's love.
He had done so much these past few months to show the omega that he was a good person. All those things he was proud of, like the shelter, trusting him with his most dangerous secrets although Jared had done nothing to prove he could be trusted. But Jensen knew. Jared was still so young but he was trustworthy, of that Jensen had never doubted, a fighter, strong and proud.
Jensen, stupid fool in love, knew all this.
He was even prepared to pay whatever sum of money would prove necessary to sway the Intendant's decision in the right direction and allow Jared to remain in the Islands. He would of course never confess to it in front of Jared because the omega would worry about the way to reimburse him one day, making their already twisted relationship even more complicated.
By the time he left his parents' home, Jensen had vowed never to love or trust again. Looking back in the mirror, he could see what a pretty piss-poor job of keeping his word he had done. And to add insult to injury, here he was now on Visnia, because the countdown was close to the end and, in case the derogation didn't work, he still had a last, desperate card to play to keep Jared close to him.
He had had a hard time coming up with a valid lie that Jared would deem convincing enough to explain his absence for the day. He probably got away with it because Jared was used by now to his surprises and they generally turned out for the best. They were more and more tied to each other, rarely doing anything without the help of the other one. Another time, another place, Jensen would have felt suffocated by such a tight-knit and demanding relationship, but there was nothing of the sort nowadays. Jared made him feel cared for, and Jensen feared the loneliness he would experience if he didn't manage to succeed in his plan. That was maybe one of the things he had tried to avoid in keeping the omega at arm's length for so long, but it was too late to cry about it now.
Better take the next step. He knew he wasn't completely ready to pop the question, but he just couldn't imagine his future without Jared featuring prominently in it and Jensen had always been good at drawing logical conclusions.
Thus his visit today to Radraniakian. The man was short and wrinkled, so ancient it was impossible to say from his scent if he had been once alpha or omega. His gender made no difference anyway, for he was an artist in all the ways Jensen would never achieve, dedicated to his craft all day long. A carver, able to create or reproduce into any matter whatever was brought to him.
On his way to Radraniakian's house, Jensen was intercepted by Lanndee. The beautiful beta had shared her bed with him on more than one occasion, and she was obviously delighted to see him again after such a long estrangement.
"Hello, pretty boy. Did you miss me ?"
"Hello to you too. I always miss your stellar company, Lanndee, you know it. But I'm not here for pleasure today."
"I see," she lost her smile as she smelled him. "What's that scent ? Have you met someone ? I thought you said you'd never mate."
"I've said a lot of stupid things in my life. Alphas can be dumb and blinkered sometimes."
"So it seems," Lanndee concluded before she left without a fight, in true beta fashion, offering the sight of her gorgeous and naked backside to Jensen.
He marveled at not feeling the usual attraction. Jared had truly ruined him for everyone else.
Mikalé, Radraniakian's mate, welcomed him with a hug. Jensen had spent many days here over the years, learning from the master, and he often thought of the old couple as some sort of honorary parents he admired and truly loved, who never failed to tell him when he was being obtuse but also praised his achievements and talents.
Radraniakian set aside his work to welcome him in his turn and offered him a drink to sip while Jensen explained the reason for this impromptu visit. Jensen took his drawing out of his pocket and raised it for his master.
"I'd like you to create a binding bracelet with this."
"Is it not the way your people show they are tied to someone else ?"
"Yes, this is the symbol of the bond between two mates."
"And you have found your mate," Radraniakian chuckled, "which would explain why poor little Lanndee left in a huff and your scent is all different."
"I think I have found him, yes."
"You think or you know ?"
"I'm pretty sure, I just don't know where to go from here."
"I think you know, boy, you're just afraid. I was like you once, and I can testify that you may run and hide, the feelings won't disappear. So give me this drawing."
Jensen had sketched as precisely as possible the shape of Tellia, knowing that the old Visnian artist, who had known his island for a long time, would add any detail he might be aware of. He had included in his drawing all the places holding a particular meaning for Jared and he, a map of their unnamed love story : the farmhouse, the fields where they worked together, the fertility rock, the lake where Jared had seen his first dragons. It made for a busy sketch but he had no doubt that Radraniakian would make the best of the two-inch wide, one-inch high, similar metal plates that both mates would wear on their wrists, tied with large leather bindings.
The second harvest of the year was by far the biggest and the most tiring. Jared and Jensen were away from home most days, like all settlers in their farmer community, to help with the job from farm to farm.
They were on Rick and Katie's island today, radiant newlyweds. No words had been necessary for Jared, only a look and a breath, to know that his friend was pregnant already and happy about it. Jared had stayed with her for a while as she took on the daunting task to prepare all those alphas' lunch with Rick's elderly o-mother and three other omegas - one of them childless and the other two with adult children - who had been free to make the trip with their mates. He had chatted a bit with Katie, asking about her life and the future kid's name, before he had gone back to work with the alphas.
Most of them had looked at him dubiously at first, unsure what a weak omega thought he could do here among fifteen broad-shouldered, muscled alphas. His own deceptively huge silhouette had probably helped them decide to let him play along. Jensen had put in a good word for him too, advising his fellow alphas to wait and see. But it was all the hard work he had done that had gained their trust and respect, Jared was sure of it.
Five days into it, and his working alongside the alphas was now a given. He was making friends among the farmers and their mates he didn't know previously. None wondered about his presence anymore, all of them acting as if Jensen and he were mated in all but that last little detail that should have them sleeping together. But it seemed their respective scents were already quite meshed, and Jensen's respectful and loving attitude had them all assuming that it was only a matter of time before the two of them wed. Jared saw no need to disabuse them of this belief he shared with all his heart.
Jared had a moment of panic when he thought he had smelled a yellow flower he recognized all too well in the armful of feeria he had just deposited on the cart.
"What's wrong ?" Jensen worried when Jared called him.
"I think… this is a virgin's poppy, I think I've smelled it. Jensen, don't let me make a fool of myself, I beg you."
"Jared, don't worry. The hairs on the stem have to come in contact with your skin for the reaction to occur, and the feeria neutralized their action. You have nothing to fear, I promise."
Jared felt his heartbeat slowly going back to a normal rhythm, but his hands still squeezed Jensen's tightly. He couldn't stand the idea of making a fool of himself in front of all his friends.
"How do you know all this ?"
"You're not the first omega to be tricked with this pretty poppy, that's why I've always questioned Morgan's part in what happened to you. As for the interaction with the feeria, I learned from the Visnians. I'll take you to them someday, you'll be able to ask all the questions swirling in that pretty head of yours."
Lunch was a welcome pause after hours of hard work, before the nap in the hay that would let him snuggle close to his mate for a glorious hour. The meal provided an opportunity to talk with everyone and laugh out loud at the silly contest the alphas had going on, telling the most outrageous stories they could imagine.
One of the guys kept confusing Sammo and Samma, no matter how many times he was reminded that the o meant omega and the a alpha. Jared wondered if, a bit like Misha, he had a poor sense of smell and wasn't able to distinguish the scents shared by the couple.
"Don't mock him, guys," Jensen pleaded. "Names are hard to remember sometimes. I used to call my o-dad Nappy when I was very young, and the name stayed. No one even remembers his real name is Titus."
"I wouldn't want anyone to remember I was once called Titus !" alpha Jennings guffawed, followed by everyone.
"Why did you call him like that ?" Jared asked then.
"According to my father, I must have been about two when I came to find my o-dad one day. "'Not now, Jensen,'" he told me, "'Daddy's napping.'", which I promptly transformed in daddy nappi'. I repeated it every day when my o-dad was going for a nap in the afternoon. My brothers decided to use it, and so the name stuck."
That kind of memory was so far from the ugly portrayal of his o-dad Jensen had painted, it reminded Jared of his dreams to have a family and share the everyday life with them.
"So who here had a different nickname during childhood ?" Katie asked the table. "Jared, I know you did."
"That's true. Padre Jim, the man who raised us at the orphanage," he explained for the people who had never heard about him, "used to call me Jay."
"No way !" Jensen exclaimed.
"Yes way," Jared responded. "He did until the day I was ten years old and I told him I was now too old for that. Why ? Is that so awful ?"
"No, not awful, it's just… my o-dad used to call me Jay when I was a little kid, until the day Father told him I was too old for that kind of thing. I was only four."
Misha commented on the amusing coincidence and there was no doubt it was very witty and deep, probably even amusing. But Jared and Jensen only had eyes for each other, perfectly remembering the joking conversation about Jensen's friends and the need for Jared to find a mate with a name close to his.
It was indeed nothing but a silly coincidence, but to Jared it felt like another sign. They were meant to be.
Today was their reward for all the hard harvesting work of the last fifteen days. Jared had done more than his part and, in addition to the financial bonus for his efforts, he deserved at least a whole day off, away from the house and the kitchen, to relax and enjoy life.
Relishing the cool waters of Tellia's second lake and its cascade, he seemed far more successful in this endeavor than Jensen. The words of alpha Jennings about Jared were etched in the alpha's mind.
"Why haven't you mated him already ? If he wasn't looking at you like you've hung the sky, I'd fall on my knees and pledge myself to him right now."
Jensen's answer - because he deserves better than me - was on the tip of his tongue, ready to burst out, but he hadn't let it pass. The truth was that he didn't want Jared to think there was someone better for him out there. He wanted Jared to love him unconditionally and forever. He wanted Jared for himself.
Jensen shut his mind and plunged into the clear waters of the lake. He should follow his own advice and use the day to relax and forget his worries. There was an omega swimming naked near the cascade and he intended to find him.
He came at Jared's side completely undetected and wrapped his arms around his waist to dunk him without notice. He heard Jared's dread in his cry, remembered his fear of something hidden in the water the first time he had taken him to Tellia, and made sure Jared realized quickly it was Jensen playing, not some horrible and giant beast ready to devour its prey.
The closed-mouth kiss wasn't as good as the usual ones, all those kisses they had shared these past weeks since Jared's birthday to say goodnight, but it calmed Jared at once. They resurfaced eventually and the omega didn't hesitate to punch him in the arm, but he made no move to get away.
"You're a dick ! I thought I had been gripped by a shark or something."
"I told you, there's no shark around here, only big, bad alphas."
"And you think you're funny ?" Jared kept spitting water and coughing, adorable in his anger.
"Maybe not, but at least I'm pretty."
He stole Jared's next words in a kiss, a real one this time, slow and sexy and heavy with desire. His body gravitated towards Jared's, his hands firmly applied to each of Jared's ass cheeks. He felt the omega's dick hardening in a rush and saluting his own, battle-ready.
Jared cried out again, but this time it was pain Jensen heard in his voice.
"Something bit me," he said, shooting a dark look at Jensen. "It hurts a lot."
"Did you apply the repulsive ointment every hour like I said ?"
Jared looked embarrassed.
"I did it the first time, but I was naked afterwards, and I didn't dare get out of the water. I didn't see any leech, so I thought I was safe."
"This will be your lesson for the future. Come on, we need to drain the bite before the toxin gets too far into your body."
They quickly swam towards the rocky shore, the place where they had left their clothes and their towels.
"Where's your bite ?" Jensen asked a red-faced Jared.
"On my thigh, behind… near my butt."
"Okay, I need you on your hands and knees and I'll suck the bite."
"What ?" Jared exclaimed, and he seemed close to fainting.
"Come on, Jared, this is not the first time I've seen you like this, and the more we wait, the more you'll hurt later."
Jared obeyed, but his eyes refused to meet Jensen's before he turned to assume the position.
The view was more attractive than all the exotic cascades in the world. Jensen had to rein in his desire to be able to act like the doctor he wasn't. He knew from experience how much the bite of the Islands' leech could hurt. A few people even seemed to be allergic and he didn't care to risk it with his mate.
The bite was clearly delineated by a deep red circle. At least the leech was gone, probably wiped away by Jared's hand, which meant that the amount of toxin couldn't be that bad. Jensen released the touch of worry he had kept inside and he applied his lips to the wound.
Jared moaned, a mix of pain and pleasure, and rocked on his knees. Jensen's face was mashed against his thigh, the scent of his mate's arousal so potent in this position that it was a constant struggle not to leave the bite unattended and use the body so freely offered. But he couldn't do it, and he needed a better angle.
"Turn over," he commanded, helping Jared to lie on his back.
The omega's eyes were closed tight, breath shallow and rushed. Jensen bent his legs and pushed his knees close to his head before he put his mouth back on the wound, sucking for all he was worth. He could feel his hair brushing against Jared's purple hard cock, angling his skull so that the brush movement would be more pleasurable each time Jensen came back after spitting the venom.
"Jensen, please. Love, I need…"
Jared probably didn't know what he needed, but Jensen could provide all the same. Still sucking the bite, he took Jared's cock in hand and began to stroke in the same rhythm, up and down, and up again.
Jared came violently, showering himself with transparent come, and Jensen kept on caressing him. He continued to suck the wound until he was sure the five recommended minutes had passed.
Jared was glowing and safe, and Jensen wanted nothing more than to fuck him into mating.
Masterpost |
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Continue to part 9