“Definitely some champagne.”
Red emerges from her room for clothes, and I study her like Ri-ckon suggested. She looks different for sure, clothes stickingto her body like skin. She wears a silky shirt with bright colors similar to her pots with broken pieces stuck on the outside.
When she glances our way, she smiles, and the spot inside my body that belongs to her heats up. This is an ohm-ee-ga’s love, the most precious warmth in the world. I lift my hand and wave.
Ri-ckon sticks the no-scent patches under her collar, and then we follow her to a different building. Soon a man brings her a horse, and she strokes the beast’s long nose as if it were my head.
I growl softly.
Red turns and beckons me. I’m not sure what to do around those big animals, but I can’t ignore her request. “It’s okay, Zack. This is Chuckles, and he’s more scared of you than you are of him.”
An animal this big feels fear? I can’t smell it on him, but then again, he’s not an alpha. Red takes my hand and places it on the soft brown fur, stroking my fingers down the length. The creature snorts softly, tickling my hand with the white hairs around his nose. Someone drops a saddle and the horse flicks his ears, head snapping up nervously.
I rest my hand on his powerful neck, feeling the strength within. His skin ticks with nerves, and yet he stands in place, held by a lead rope similar to mine. For a moment, all the noise on the set fades away.
Once, I was the same, twitching at every sound and ready to run. Now, every noise has a meaning, and few of them pose a threat.
“Be good,” I mutter, stroking his hard cheek. “Carry Red well.”
The horse settles and nudges into my chest, leaving a smattering of orange hairs on my shirt.
My ohm-ee-ga laughs and pushes the horse away. “Go easy on him,” she tells the animal.
My heart squeezes. “Zack ride horse too?” I ask.
Red throws me a dazzling smile. “One day, sure. Just not today because we’re about to start.”
Ri-ckon tugs on my leash. “They’re clearing the set now, Zack.”
I follow him, casting glances over my shoulder at my transformed omega as she listens to one of the loudest people she works with, and the big cameras roll into position.
My pack mate tucks us into the side of a building with views out to the racetrack. Dozens of horses mill around, circling with their riders in front of a row of narrow half-cells. Like Ri-ckon said, today’s the busiest I’ve ever seen this place, and the crowd in the rows of seats in the next building makes a massive noise, like flies buzzing in a flock.
Rickon nudges me and points, but I already spied my ohm-ee-ga, riding out from a tunnel with the cameras rolling on wheels ahead of her. She sits on the horse’s back, a dome protecting her head. She’s the only one the cameras follow.
“Why Red act?” I ask, tracking her progress onto the brown area near the line of cells.
“Good question. You know Red went through some terrible things, where she was forced to produce haze?” He taps his collarbone.
I growl, recalling the day Al explained what Ray did to her.
“Well, enduring those things was really hard on her mind. She used acting roles to help her get through it without losing herself completely. And she also copied actresses as a way of learning how to behave in life.”
Ah, now I understand. Acting is to Red what my ohm-ee-ga is to me—a savior. Something that taught her how to live.
I nod my head emphatically. “Good then. Let her act a lot.”
Ri-ckon chuckles. “Yeah, I agree. As much as she wants. But you know what’s even better? With us, our omega’s learning who she is without acting. That’s why the Red we see at home is a little different to the woman riding a horse out there.”
I glance down at the leash arcing from my throat to his hand. “Like leash? Red still learning?” My jaw pops open. I thought my ohm-ee-ga knew everything!
“Oh, you sweet boy,” Ri-ckon says, grinning. He reels in the leash, closing the distance between us. “I’ll let you in on a secret. Every human spends their entire life learning, right up to the day we die.”
I begin to tell him it can’t be true, but then Callisto’s words about learning to treasure his pack come into my mind. A heavy invisible pressure leaves my shoulders in a heartbeat. “So, it okay that Zack still learn, even if it takes long?”
“Oh, my love!” Ri-ckon turns and throws his arms around my neck. “Of course it’s okay. You’ll always be learning new things. That’s the joy of living life.”
I hook my arm around him and crush him to my chest, startling a sharp exhale from him. I’m not hopelessly behind everyone else, because all the people who feel so different from me are also still learning. And maybe they too feel a bit lost, the same as me.
