"But what?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Why should I give a chance to any omega who I don't feel a spark for? That's a waste of my time, and theirs. When I know we're not, I bounce. Better for everyone involved."
Furrowing his brow, Pops stood. We were the same height so he stared right at me, his dark eyes mirroring mine. "That's just it, Zak. The way you cycle through omegas makes you seem like a player. Like you don't actually care about their feelings."
My father's words took me by surprise, rendering me speechless. My eyes widened in shock.
"I'm not saying it's true. But it's the impression you give off." Pops shrugged. "And if the omegas you're dating pick up on that, they might not want to give you a chance either."
My lip curled. I was thoroughly fed up now. My parents didn't need to keep chewing me out like this when I already got the point. I turned around, ready to shift and run off.
"Zak," Pops called firmly.
I stopped. "What?"
He let out a heavy sigh. "Your dad and I didn't just come here to scold you. There's another reason."
Turning back around, I faced him in silence. But the sudden conflicted expression on his face worried me. My bad mood dissolved into concern. "Tell me."
Pops exhaled a slow breath. "Your grandfather Nautilus is missing."
3
Kamari
The fishI was hunting slapped me in the face.
I sighed mentally. Ornery prey was not what I needed right now.
I surged forward and clamped down on the fish's midsection, ending it quickly and thanking it with a silent prayer. It was big; it would be a nice, hearty meal for someone in need.
I breached the surface and took in a deep breath. The waters on the outskirts of the coast were cold but they felt especially frigid now with those dark, grey clouds looming overheard. It felt like a bad omen. I tried not to believe in that sort of superstitious crap, but when one bad thing happened after another, it was getting harder to remain skeptical each passing day.
Using the tip of my rounded snout, I edged the fish I'd just caught into my dragging twine basket. It might've looked silly for a huge killer whale to swim around with a basket attached to his dorsal fin but hey, what was a guy to do when he didn't have arms? Besides, there was no shame in knowing I was doing many people good. If that meant looking un-noble, then so be it.
Distant splashing caught my attention. Splashing usually meant a struggle, either from prey resisting an attacker or in rare cases, some idiot human who swam too far out from the shore and needed to be rescued. It hadn't happened to me in these particular waters, but I had experienced it before. Why they thought nature would be kind to their land bound forms was a mystery to me. Since I didn't want to be some hero to them, I simply dove and slapped the water with my powerful tail fin hard enough to push them closer to shore or some floating branch so someone else could rescue them.
Now that I thought about it, the humans' caprice reminded me of every alpha I had ever met. Cocky, arrogant. Never knowing their own boundaries. A total waste of time and energy.
That was why I focused my efforts on omegas alone. They were the ones who truly needed me.
A gasp came from the source of the splashing. A voice. It had a nasally, coarse quality to it--not human. A shifter.
My body kicked into overdrive. I rocketed towards the sound, already dreading what I would find. An aquatic shifter wouldn't be splashing like that unless they were injured, and that was exactly what I was worried about.
Not again. Please.
A dark streamlined shape was bobbing above the waves lopsidedly. A seal shifter, gasping for breath. His eyes widened in horror as I approached. One scent of him told me everything I needed to know; he smelled of omega and blood.
"No," he cried, terrified.
I stopped instantly a good distance away so as not to frighten him any further. My familiar speech was already prepared. "I won't hurt you. My name is Kamari. I'm an omega, just like you."
The seal relaxed. "Oh, thank gods. Are you the one I heard rumors about?"
"Yes. I run a haven for aquatic omegas. You're safe now. May I approach you?"
The relief in the seal omega's voice broke my heart. "Yes."
I swam closer, keeping my motions slow. As a large predatory shifter, I had to practice controlling my body so as not to frighten smaller omegas. It didn't help that I was an apex predator and that most of the omegas in my care shifted into species that would be my prey if we were mute animals.
