CHAPTER 7: WALK

The next day, Ainar finds himself once again sitting by the door of Gavin’s shack. He had delivered his food for the midday after his own meal, and the omega invited him to sit once again as he ate.

“Slow down, Gavin,” Ainar chuckled as he watched him scarf down the food he delivered.

Gavin’s cheeks colored in embarrassment. He covered his mouth with his hands, obediently slowing down as he chews the food. When he successfully swallowed them, he removed his hand from his mouth to talk.

“I don’t want to make you wait long,” he reasoned.

Ainar hummed.

“I don’t mind waiting so don’t worry about that,” he assured.

“Sorry, Alpha.”

“You don’t have to say sorry either,” he said as he gazed at him softly. Gavin met his eyes for a brief second before turning them back to the food in front of him. He continued eating, now slower. Ainar smiled in extreme fondness at the omega.

“Do you have anything to do after this?” he asked when the omega finished eating. He moved to gather the tray in his hands before meeting Gavin’s eyes who was only watching him.

“No, why?” Gavin answered.

“I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk? No pressure, of course. You can refuse,” Ainar said. He waited for his answer. Gavin has a thoughtful look on his face contemplating.

“Where?” Gavin quietly asked.

“In the forest? Pack grounds? Anywhere you’d like.”

“Would it be just the two of us?” he asked unsurely. Ah, so he’s worried about that.

“If you’re worried about pack members, you do not have to. It would be just the two of us,” he answered. Gavin’s eyes widened at his statement, he looked flustered.

“I am not worried about pack members,” he murmured as he averted his gaze, fiddling on his fingers he placed on his lap.

“You are allowed to,” Ainar answered, assuring.

“You are still fairly new to the pack. It is natural to be wary. Or am I taking it wrong? Would you like to have someone else walk with us?”

He played with his fingers more on his lap, Ainar only watched him, patiently waiting for his answer. A few moments later, he raised his gaze, meeting Ainar’s eyes. He’s getting better in meeting the alpha’s gaze. Ainar takes it as a win.

“No, no, I would love to take a walk with you. Just you.”

Ainar smiled at him, all soft at how the omega is acting. He stood up, carrying the tray in his hands.

“Well then, I’ll be back. I will just put this away then we can go,” Ainar said as he walked to get out of the shack. He was slipping his sandals on when he smelled it, Gavin’s anxious scent. It’s subtle, the smell of amber and something bitter and spoilt, but since his wolf is more naturally attuned to Gavin, he was able to smell it. He quickly stood up; eyes wide as he looked at the omega.

“What’s wrong?” he worriedly asked.

“Don’t do that,” Gavin said.

Ainar is confused. He sees Gavin pinching on his wrists again so he put the tray in his hand aside to sit back by the door.

“Don’t do what?” he asked. Ainar slowly reached for his wrists, immediately halting his movements when he realized what he was doing.

“Can I touch you?”

Gavin is confused by the question. There he is with his questions again.

Ainar waited for his answer, it took a while but Gavin eventually nodded. He carefully pried Gavin’s hands off of his wrist, rubbing soothing circles on them. His skin is already bruising at his ministration. Because of his complexion, he easily bruises. Ainar frowned at the variety of pinks and violets on the omega’s wrist. Gavin’s wrists look delicate, engulfed by his hands. He has the sudden urge to kiss them, but he sobered up quickly. Shaking his head at the thought.

“Hey, look at me,” he softly called out. Gavin obediently met his eyes, looking up at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like it when you do that,” Gavin replied.

“Do what?”

“I don’t like feeling useless.”

Ainar is shocked at the statement. Did he do anything to make him feel like that?

“I am used to doing a lot of things—chores in my pack. But here, I am left with nothing to do. You do everything for me, even the things I should be doing. And it’s making me feel…useless,” the omega rambled. His scents spikes in anxiety at every word.

He continued to rub soothing circles on his wrists, exuding soothing pheromones subtly to help the omega relax. It seemed to help, if the subtle sagging of his shoulders and the obvious drawback of amber in his scent is anything to go by.

“Oh, sweetling,” he sighed.

“You should have said something.”

“But I didn’t want to disturb, Alpha,” he replied quietly.

“I told you, you are not an inconvenience. Your presence will never disturb me,” Ainar soothed. He sighed while gazing at the omega.

“If you really wish to have something to do, the pack has a lot of chores and our packmates would be delighted to have you.”

Gavin doubts that. Delighted? He doesn’t think so. But he keeps quiet.

Ainar lets go of his hand. Gavin had half a mind to grab it back but he refrained himself. The alpha would think he’s weird.

The alpha picked up the tray once again and turned to Gavin.

“Let’s bring this to the cooking house?”

They walked out of the shack. Gavin is the one holding the tray now. Ainar’s wolf is protesting against it, his wolf doesn’t want to allow his omega to work, badly wants to just take care of him and do things himself, but if it would make Gavin feel better then he’ll just have to tame his wolf.

“What do you want to do in the pack?” Ainar asked as they’re nearing the cooking house.

“Do you have any particular chore in mind? You can teach pups?”

Gavin thinks he’s not smart enough for that.

“You can help in the fields? Or are you interested in archery? I heard Southern packs make great hunters.”

Hunters.

A scene suddenly flooded his mind—a forest. But he is quick to shake it off his head. There is no reason for him to revisit the memory.

“Cooking house?” Gavin asked, turning to look at the alpha.

As if on cue, they stopped by the entrance of the cooking house. Ainar turned to him.

“You’d like to work on the cooking house?” the alpha asked. There isn’t any malice in his voice, just plain curiosity but for some reason, Gavin feels defensive.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I am an omega. I am supposed to work in the cooking house, am I not?”

Ainar looked shocked at his statement. Why, though? He is telling the truth.

“That’s not true, omegas can do so much more things aside from that,” Ainar answered. His brows are furrowed.

Gavin wants to disagree, but he chose to stay quiet.

“Where are we putting this?” he asked instead. Ainar looked like he wanted to continue the conversation but decided to drop it too.

He walked ahead of Gavin to show him where he should place the tray. On their way, they pass by an elderly omega.

“Nana,” Ainar called softly. She was doing something in the sink, but she stopped what she was doing and turned around to greet them. She wiped her hands off of her tunic.

“Ainar,” she softly called back. Her eyes, soft and wise beyond her years, looked fondly at Ainar. She’s smiling so wide, cheeks dimpling in happiness as crow feet appear at the corner of her eyes.

“What brought you here?”

Ainar smiled back at her, equally soft.

“We dropped something by,” he answered gesturing to Gavin. Nana shifted her eyes to Gavin, gaze unchanging.

“You are with your mate,” she said excitedly.

Gavin bowed his head slightly, giving her a timid smile.

“Gavin, this is Nana, she’s the head of the cooking house. The one who cooks our meals,” Ainar explained.

“Nana, this is Gavin. He loves your cooking.”

“Oh, that’s lovely to hear,” she cooed. She took a step forward and gently grabbed Gavin’s hands. Gavin stared at her with wide eyes, awkward smile on his lips. The elder omega’s scent is soothing, a hint of lavender and honey, making his shoulders relax. He thinks she smells subtly of bonfire. Gavin wants to bury himself in the scent.

“Nice to meet you, Omega Gavin. You are so lovely. Tell me anything you need and I’ll give them to you.”

Gavin only smiled at her, feeling shy at the compliment.

“Omega Gavin said he would like to help in the cooking house,” Ainar supplied.

Nana turned to look at him, eyes wide in delight.

“Is that so? We’d be happy to have you here,” she said. Her hold in his hand tightened for a fraction but remained gentle.

“Maya helps here from time to time too.”

Gavin gave her a grateful smile. Nana cooed at her.

“You are so precious, aren’t you?” she let go of his hand to cup both of his cheeks. If it were anyone else, Gavin would have flinched away. But he oddly feels safe with the elder, maybe because she’s an omega and Gavin likes her scent so much.

“We have to fatten these cheeks up, hmm? Nana will make sure to cook more delicious food for you.”

Ainar chuckled at the interaction. His eyes are fond as he watches the two.

Nana turned to look at him, hands still on Gavin’s cheeks.

“Are you pups headed somewhere?” she asked.

“We’ll just take a walk, Nana,” Ainar answered. Nana dropped her hands from Gavin’s cheeks but not before lightly tapping it.

“Then you should go. I won’t hold you off your plans,” she said.

“Wait here. I’ll give you something.”

Nana left to grab something from her shelf. She handed Gavin a small container, filled with…berries? Gavin accepted it.

“Those are candied berries I made. It’s good to munch on them while you walk,” she explained. She made a shooing motion with her hands. Turning to walk back to the sink to continue what she was doing.

“Now go, the weather is really good today. You can come here anytime to start working or just to keep me company. Don’t pressure yourself, pup. Whenever you’re ready.”

They murmured their gratitude to her before walking out of the cooking house.

Gavin and Ainar quietly walked to the direction of the forest. Gavin, who had learned his lesson from the day they walked to the river, is walking ahead of the alpha. He stared at the container in his hands, at the candied berries.

“You should try them.” Ainar said from behind him.

“Nana makes them really good.”

Gavin decidedly picks one from the container and popped it in his mouth. His eyes widened at the sweet taste. He even stopped walking.

“It’s good right?”

He turned to Ainar and nodded repeatedly.

“It really is,” Gavin answered.

The alpha chuckled in fondness. Gavin extended his arm to offer some to the alpha. Ainar gratefully smiled and picked one himself.

They continued walking while eating the candy. Gavin hums in delight every time he pops one into his mouth, and Ainar is very much endeared. At one point during their walk, Gavin stopped walking again, but this time, it was to wait for the alpha so they could walk side by side.

He pushed himself to act nonchalant, willing the blush to disappear from his cheeks as he walked side by side with the alpha, but still with a small distance from each other. He basks under the sunlight filtering through the thick canopy of leaves, the crunching of dried leaves as they walk soothing him along with the alpha’s scent, the faint smell of rainwater mixing with the earthy scent of the forest. Gavin wants to close his eyes just to savor it, but he’d rather save himself from the embarrassment.

They walk deeper in the forest. Gavin takes in the beautiful sight of it in front of him. It’s hours after midday, the sun is till on its peak but the wind is really cold on his cheeks, giving him a healthy blush. He loves this kind of weather. He had always loved cold weathers so he always took his time to savor it every time the rare cold season visited back in the South. Now though, he can enjoy it every day.

They reach a clearing and Gavin gasps at the sight of it.  Endless patches of green welcomed his sight. Tall grass and wild flowers laid on the field. He excitedly looked back at Ainar.

“This place is so pretty,” he gasps. His eyes are wide in excitement.

“It is, isn’t it?” Ainar replied. Gavin’s excitement is contagious. He also has a wide smile on his face. Gavin’s scent smells so much better when he’s happy and content. Ainar wants to keep it that way.

“I used to come here to play with my friends as a pup.”

“Can we go?” Gavin excitedly asked. Ainar, very much endeared, he can’t really say no to Gavin, he thinks. With his wide eyes sparkling in excitement, pink-tinted cheeks bunching up in a shy smile, Ainar thinks he doesn’t notice it but the omega is almost bouncing on the heels of his feet. He smiled back at him, somehow as equally excited, and nodded at him.

They walk past the trees and through the tall grass and to the bed of flowers. Many different flowers grew on the clearing. Trees surrounded the space, gone are the thick canopy of leaves shielding them from the sun earlier, sun shone brightly at the area.

It’s as if time had slowed down as he gazed at the omega. He watched as Gavin gasped excitedly at every flowers. The omega ran around the field, hands outstretched as he let them graze the flowers. A small smile is playing on his lips as he gazed at him. Gavin’s happy giggles are echoing in the forest, a beautiful smile is stretching on his lips and his eyes shuts tightly, nose scrunching in happiness and breathless giggles escape his lips as he enjoys himself. His white skin is glistening under the sun, giving him an almost ethereal glow, his equally white hair is bouncing with him as he bounced on his feet in sheer happiness. As he opened his eyes, the deep blue color of it stood out among the sea of flowers.

Ainar thinks he hasn’t seen anything as beautiful his whole life.

Gavin stopped running to call him.

“Alpha!” he called out. Ainar came back to his senses and raised his brows questioningly at the omega. He can’t even call him out at the slip of rank.

“This place is so beautiful,” he said bashfully. There’s that shy smile again on his lips and Ainar is…he’s almost melting at the warmth that settled in his chest.

Ainar wants to disagree. The place is indeed beautiful, but he thinks he has seen something more already. The place was already beautiful in itself, but added with the happy omega currently playing and happily giggling in it, Ainar thinks it’s a sight more beautiful than any other things in this world. It’s a sight he’d never get tired of watching for the rest of his life. But he doesn’t say that. So, instead, he smiled back at the omega who went back to running and brushing his hands on the flowers. With a different view in his mind, he muttered to himself.

“It really is."