Blackened Feathers

Secret Hideaway

Omega was hurting so badly. His own grief from the loss of his brethren was clawing at his insides and ripping his heart to shreds. What he was feeling from Alpha, whose pain was just as bad, intensified the agony.

He sat on the pebbled shore of the lake, knees drawn up to his chest and arms draped over them. He hung his head and tried to breathe deeply to calm himself. Everything from the last few moments was catching up with him and he realised he was becoming overwhelmed.

Soft fingers stroked his bare arm and he turned his head to see Seren, who had sat down next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and put her arm around his back.

“We’re here for you, Omega. You don’t have to take all if this on alone anymore. Use me. Take from me," she said as she stroked his face.

He heard the pebbles moving as Alpha sat on his other side and snuggled up to him. His hot skin was welcome against his damp clothes. 

Omega realised Seren was right. He was hurting and he was feeling overwhelmed, just as he had done for the last few months. Now that he had Seren, though, he didn't need to numb himself to it all anymore. She would get him through and lend him her strength.

She was soothing him using their newly formed bond, just as he had soothed others for most of his life. Just as it had that day when he first met Seren, his quintessence self latched onto the peace she exuded and drank it in, gaining much needed calm and clarity from her. The pain was still there. It didn’t dull at all, but when he took from her, he could think straighter and he could function through it.

He sent some mojo to Alpha, who huffed out a breath and relaxed against him. The heat coming from the fire ghoul was soothing in its own way, like a warm blanket on a chilly night. Omega shuddered and rubbed his hands down his face, then turned his gaze to Seren.

“Thank you," he whispered. Seren smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. The warm air suddenly didn’t feel so warm anymore and he shivered and stood up clumsily. His boots slid on the pebbles and he pulled Seren up with him. “Okay, how do we get home? They need us.”

Alpha clambered to his feet too. As Seren and Omega stood there in their wet clothes, Omega noticed that his were almost dry already. Alpha looked down at himself to see what they were looking at. He'd used his heat magic to dry himself.

“What?” he shrugged. “I hate being wet and cold.”

Seren smirked at him and then sighed.

“We need to plan this. We could find anything back there. Who knows what’s happened since we left?”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to go back, anyway. We can’t plan if we don’t know what the fuck’s waiting for us. The whole place might have gone up in flames," Alpha said, and Omega had to agree with him.

The sooner they went back, the better. There was no way to predict what had happened in the time since they had left the chapel.

“Alpha, the second we get back, Inigo will take you again. You know that, right? Here, the connection is severed. I can charge the pendant again and put it back on you, but that’s no match for him when he’s in the same space as you. I don’t think there is any kind of outside magic that could interrupt the kind of bond between a fire ghoul and their Elemental.”

Alpha smiled sadly at her.

“Meg can just knock me out if the worst comes to the worst." He said it in a jokey tone, but Omega knew he was deadly serious. "Inigo is kind of on our side anyway, so I don’t think we have anything to worry about from him now that he’s out of the circle. Surely you want to kick some angel butt after what he did to you both?”