by Emma Knox
“Oh no!”
“Oh yes!” Drake now rotating his subtalar joint. “How else will we get you better?”
“I’m just not up for it.”
“You need to have some sex!” Drake said again. “Your body is like a sponge, and it needs ringing out to dry.”
“I agree with Drake.”
“A party means Omegas. All prime and on the search for an Alpha like yourself. You still got it, Garret. You might be a little late in the conquering department, but I’m sure a quick fix will sort that out.”
“I don’t just want a quick fix or a couple of notches on a bedpost.”
“You want what we have?” Drake flung his index finger and removed dirt from his nails.
“I want something a little more meaningful, yes.”
“Then go to the party at the Omega Lodge Inn and find yourself some roast beef on a stick…if you know what I mean.” Drake got up and brought the empty glass inside. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“How do you cope with him?”
“Drake is sexy. And I love his straightforwardness.”
“I sometimes don’t.” I half-heartedly took a piece of cow tongue from the plate and really sank my teeth into that flesh, elongating it until it couldn’t stretch anymore and it finally tore off. I chewed and chewed and chewed and found that chewing gave me a headache.
“Drake means well when it comes to you. It should be a good night. I had a leaflet… Do you want me to get it?”
“No!” I stopped Steven from making that trip. “I’ll come.”
“You won’t regret it.” He still got up to go inside.
I already regretted it when it came to checkin and the party at the Lodge had started to fill with potential prospects. My irises never settled as Omegas started to flood through the wild-west, double doors that brought in the settling wind and a pretty face along with it. I almost felt like a prowler waiting to lunge on whatever would have me as I completed the sign-in for my room with my signature, and then proceeded to check what was happening in the back where everybody was flocking to.
As I scouted for a scent that would stimulate my manhood, a few Omegas smiled at me as if to come over. But I breezed on through with an obscure sniff to see if they were to my mating delicacies: none of the five I passed were. Others gave a friendly wink and polite enough encouragement for me to have a little dance as the speakers were now playing some electronic dance music.
I gave my shoulders a couple of flirtatious sways with a few well-groomed and sensitive Omegas, but still, I couldn’t bring myself to grab one of them and hurl them up to the bedroom. I started to get a dry mouth and a twinkle little star inside of my boxers. I was now finding it hard to not check the behinds of the Omegas who were genuinely all well-endowed.
Some purposefully brandished a tail, bent over and swung it like the trick of a circling tongue. I wanted to sneak up behind and dry hump like a mad lion needing to defile the dying celibate that I was becoming. I was that close, my hands about to grip the waist and lift him to the point of him feeling how big I could be. But it wasn’t the right scent…
“Sniffff!” I took in another whiff of his odor, “sniffffffff,’ it knocked me off my feet, but in a bottle smashing across the side of my face occurrence. I gave up on forcibly smelling him as this Omega, whose face I haven’t seen yet, got up and tried to backup into me and gyrate that tail of his against my nose. The lights on the outside porch dimmed. And the music began to blare even louder.
By then, I had pushed my nostrils away from the side of this horny Omega’s neck. I had given him a lustrous lick down from his earlobe until he started to shiver, but that was it — as I deflatingly headed toward the bar that seemed like a pathway to my end rites. A cough started to tickle my throat like a feather and I heaved over as I reached the bar.
“Cough-cough-cough.”
I recovered, and the barman asked me, “You ok?”
I covered my mouth with my palm and coughed again. “Cough-cough-cough.” I wished it was written on my forehead that my death would be eminent if I didn’t find a partner. I removed my hand and noticed a small splatter of blood like an ink blot. I closed my hand into a fist. “Can I get a midnight booster with two extra shots of Malibu and not shaken.”
“Right on.” The barman winked at my bold request.
It was a spicy drink, judging by the jalapenos and cayenne peppers that were soaked in water to add to the mixer. There was a sign labelling it as ‘the mixer’s special, so prepare to burrrrrrrrrrnnnnn!’ I figured this drink would be fitting. I hoped to spice up my mood which was flailing as my heartbeat started to resonate louder than the powerfully beating speakers.
He brought it over in a cocktail glass with some lemon slices on the side. I paid him his due with a tip and could smell the flavors, but I suddenly placed the glass down and found myself fighting the urge to rotate my head and neck fully clockwise as I found my way to the left side and thought, That’s it, the scent of warm amber and sweltered blackberries. However, the smell was subtle. Weak. The one carrying it was in a bad place.
I doubled up. “Can I get another shot?” I was about to cough, but I stopped it as the mixologist, frozen while adding my vodka to a shot glass, watched me.
I smelled it again, scanning the outdoors, but saw only bodies dancing in the new moonlight seductively and persuasively. I didn’t find an aim for the smell. But as I let the mixologist bring me one step closer to hell with that extra shot, I made it my priority. I will find you, wherever you are. My newly chosen mate.
Chapter 3
Ian
I shouldn’t have gone that night, but I put my walking shoes on, and I found myself going through those lodge doors and then turning right back around to leave. If it wasn’t for Ethan stopping me with that hefty hand of his on my shoulder, I would’ve been back home with my feet up, drinking green tea and trying to become a herbivore to rid myself of red meat.
But there I stood. Hands were everywhere with glow sticks cutting shapes like triangles and edgy squares — shifters blowing whistles every time the verse to a dubstep beat came on. I was in the way of many Alphas and Omegas who were linking hands and finding a more secluded location to talk. Some were on that ‘fuck the bedroom, we’ll make love right here, right now!’ vibe.
I felt the whole floor was connecting with those lustrous vibes as I snail paced it to the bar and found five shots ready and waiting. “On the house?”
The tray had a written card inviting the first-come-first-serve-basis. I was already on my third and approaching the fourth…when another tray appeared, which had the message, “On the house, this is more a tropical invention with melon and peaches.”
I shoved down my fifth shot, still not feeling the world around me shake, and headed over to drink as many as I could.
The dating and petting zoo on the dance floor was expanding to where I stood. The bar was like a holiday beach design crafted from straw bales with a white and beige canopy above it. A few nearly had me dropping my drink. Others were taking shots out my hand, slinging it down their thorax, and giving me back the glass with a kiss on the cheek.
No worries, I reckoned. There were still five more left, but the tray had gone. When I turned to enquire about my beginning to fry brain needing ammunition, I saw that it was Ethan who stood like some judgmental uncle wondering what to do with the spoiled rich kid.
“I think you’ve lost count on how many you’ve had.”
“If it isn’t a hundred then I need to catch up.” I tried to nab a shot, but Ethan swirled his waist and I just about missed the glass. “Let me get wasted, Ethan. You’re not my guardian.”
“I am, but you’re drinking for all the wrong reasons.”
“And that’s my decision. If you keep those away from me, I’ll just have to order from the bar when the mixologist gets back.”
“And I’ll take those too.”
“Always the hero, huh? Well you can save me by letting me
continue with this downward spiral. My father always said let a man solve his problems with the bottom of a bottle half empty. I need to be that bottle.”
“Your father doesn’t drink! He must’ve been joking.”
I went to the bar, ordering a double. “Would you like one, Ethan?”
“No.” In his frustration, Ethan put down the tray.
I moved to the other side of Ethan, took two shots that slotted between my thumb and index, and did a one-two in quick succession, then turned back to collect another two, and then did the one, two, thud-thud-slam on the counter. My double waited for me and Ethan wrestled me for it, spilling some of the liquid.
I fumed, “Let me have my drink so I can escape to the dance floor.”
“You’ll be sick.”
“No. I’ll be hunting for my mate!” And that was what I did as I sipped-stared-sipped-stared for the next ten minutes as couples, singles, and those wanting to friskily hook up were all in the bonding stages and forming the make-out alliance. I was becoming the desperado as nobody seemed available.
My isolation continued as the glass got emptier and emptier. And the more I drank, the more the beauty in these Alphas started to physically excite me. It was a rare few who were sniffing the air like hungry wolves. I was curious, but not enough to deem them as special.
I did another round on the dance floor on the outskirts with a smell that had me playing Marco-polo as I changed directions to figure out what I was smelling, but I couldn’t find it.
A break up song with the lyrics, gone, and I’m so over you played, and I related to it too much. It was too hard for me to handle. I was done with others finding love on the dancefloor, it was nauseating. I glugged the remaining whiskey and stamped the glass down like I’d just won a drinking bet, leaving with no goodbyes and the night sky as my only best friend at that moment. I needed to escape!
I unbuttoned two buttons on my shirt, I needed air, unknotted my tie and dragged it down, loosening it enough so it slung around my neck. Then I scruffed up my hair and took off my laced, black leather shoes, sliding them off and carrying them in one hand. I entered the woods that I knew all too well. The memories crept up like the glowing yellowish eyes of night owls that hoot, hoot, hoot every time I looked their way.
The nocturnal beings had always been a part of the woods.
Hoot, hoot, hoot.
One flew above me and landed on the tree on the other end. A few lighter shaded barn owls joined him on the same large tree on higher branches. This was common to see during mating season when the night came. More than ten owls all similar, but with varying body shapes made it their full-time occupation to increase the eeriness of a not so wise move.
I felt no fear as I saw the end of the world. A little dramatic to describe the cliff that saw an Alpha like William lose his life. I’d heard the story, but it didn’t scare me. It was a bad end to a person who lived a double life that many had not seen coming. If there was ever any goodness left in him, it died long ago.
The cliff where William most likely fell from was where I headed with the moon illuminating everything into a fairy-tale. I felt the horror of it as I leaned down and saw the rushing sea twenty-eight meters below. The cliff was like a stagnant wave about to hurl over and swoosh up all the land. I knew it was unsafe for me to come this far with my mind frame, but I didn’t care. And even worse, was when I approached the metallic bridge and gave it a kick, hearing it grumble and shake unsteadily with some dirt falling into the sea. I gave it another kick, and this time it sounded like the creaking of a door in its highest intensity. I knew that a third time tester wouldn’t need to be performed. I walked to the creaking edge…each step I took was creak-creak-creak-creak until I stopped and gripped on, turning back to see that it was coming undone from its attachment to the earth.
But my mind then… I was so oblivious to my life that I kept going and felt invincible. In my head I figured a child might mistake it for a diving board. I was at the edge of it, feeling secure and confident that it wouldn’t collapse with me on it. I sat down…slowly…wobbling knees and legs as I did.
I did it gently, placing my bum cheeks down and then pushed out my legs to let them dangle over the edge. I allowed myself to see if I was afraid of heights. I never knew I was until that moment. How easy, I thought as I contemplated sliding forward and lunging into that dark abyss to be entombed below. I heard the waves more violently as I tried to remain positive. Plenty of cold air and whoooooshing in my ears.
I could’ve sworn handsome male sirens called me into the sea. Thousands of them; popping their heads above the water with skin colors from dark brown to whiter than calcium. All with the face of the Alpha who left me. They wanted to lure me to my death, and I was willing to sign an autograph to do so.
“Who would miss me?” I asked them. All of them.
They didn’t reply.
I’m going mad. There were no sirens at all. I just needed some company in my misery and Drew was the perfect candidate. I should jump. I really, really, really, really thought that I’d be doing myself, as well as Drew, a favor. I need to find a reason to live, and fast!
Chapter 4
Garret
I scratched my stubble and rubbed my palm across my mouth like I was getting rid of excess food. One minute I was so close. It was there. My nose bolted, and my nostrils flared like saucers as I was elevated to closing my eyes and picturing that scent which was contaminated with a depressive mind state still provided me with such pleasure and widened irises.
The high from a scent could be better than sticking it to an Omega. I might be alone in that thought. But it sent me legless as I whimpered within like a lovelorn pup who wanted to find his treat. I spent a few minutes scouting: nothing but sex on the dance floor with clothes on now. And my mate wasn’t amongst that cuddlesome orgy that was now displaying hugs and the stroking of backs and bare arms if any were on display.
The alcohol was kicking in, easy access was tiptoeing all around. No Alpha or Omega was withdrawing from any sexual advances, except for the couples who seemed well behaved and just happy to embrace and circulate the dance floor all night.
I came back to the bar again with enough drinks in my system to question if I was speaking to the same guy. He had the same upbeat grin on his face and cloth. He was wiping every glass that was placed below.
“Have you come for another house specialty?”
“No. But…that was really lethal, that drink you made.”
“It takes some time to kick in. And you added three-shots.”
It was him. “It’s going to leave me with an upset stomach. But it will be worth it.”
“That’s what they all say here after drinking it.”
“Well, put me down for another next time.” He seemed chuffed with that. “Hey, have you seen any unusual looking Omegas tonight?”
“Unusual how?”
“I suppose, just not happy. Not enjoying himself. Sad to the point where you can’t miss how much of a downer it can be?”
“There was one guy.” He placed down his wiped glass and started with another on the inside. “Cute. Blond. Far-far-away. I only caught him when I came out to restock the free shots. But he drank the majority of it.”
“And do you know where he went?”
“Most Omegas with things on their mind head out the same way they came in. And take the route of the woods to forget it all.”
I hadn’t been out for a while, so my directions were rusty. Another bar laid not too far from the lodge. It was called Bear-in, and they did the most succulent buffalo wings dipped in a honey mustard sauce and a spicy barbeque finish. They were the best around, and nobody could argue with how steaming hot it would look when opening the plastic container – nearly sizzling off eyebrows and any facial hair.
Sonny was the covering manager tonight. And he had more to say on the Omega that I was searching for. “Yeah I saw him. He was a cute guy but very sad. He asked me to use the loo which is fo
r my paying customers only. But I couldn’t turn him away in a state that said he wasn’t enjoying life at the moment.”
I could smell the Omega’s past presence all around this bar. I strolled causally over to the bar to purchase my wings. When I used the bathroom myself, I could tell which urinal he had used. As suffocating as it was to be so enamored with its potency, I still sensed plenty of resentment from him. Something was delaying his happiness as I ate the wings and left no meat on the bone.
I gave Sonny back his container and followed his outstretched arm that said the woods was down the pathway and full of trouble making owls. The owls I’d already heard when I reached the beginning of the path and saw the entrance to the woods marked by a metallic sign and gate that had another entrance for bicycles or baby strollers.
It was thirty-five yards to the woods as I made a quick sprinting run and jumped over the gate instead of walking through it. At thirty-one, I still had it. My mate, smelt youthful, but was decaying internally deep down, rotten bowel movements. Basked in that sadness was somebody who like myself, fell on hard times and was trying to cope with his reality. The only difference was I’d most likely had more life experience where as he must’ve been still struggling with coping how to deal with his struggles.
I picked up the scent stronger and stronger like an invisible and never-ending dragon whistle that unflapped itself and encouraged me to follow. I had to fall onto my hands and knees and see if the trail was warm that I pursued. I saw footprints that couldn’t be more than twenty to twenty-five minutes old. The shape of a size ten shoe in the mud. I stayed crawling; not caring that my knees would be smudged with soil.
But it was good that I stayed so low, because the trail stopped, or, my mate decided to take off his shoes and alternated his route down a path that led to the… I jumped to my feet and licked the impenetrable air that lost its vigor to the northeast, but kept its alertness to the northwest. I was a predatorial hunter now, almost needing to rip off my shirt as I could see that a dangerous current was usually reflected by the stammering weather that was erratic up there.
