Camp Lake Omega

by Penelope Peters

  Anyway. Three years since anyone had touched me in a sexual manner. If my one week with Kevin had taught me anything, it’s that I liked being touched. Heat or no heat – I wanted someone to think I was sexy and desirable and everything that came after that.

  Maybe Zachary wasn’t the best alpha for the job – or maybe he was. I mean, he was so scared of his own sexuality, with the idea of losing control, I knew he’d fight to the end to keep it. That was the best insurance I had that he wouldn’t up and bond me without any warning.

  Just a little summer fling, before I went back to my dull existence. Besides, I knew that come fall, my parents were going to start hinting about me joining the bonding pool again – the social swirl of unbonded alphas and omegas who were looking for mates. Not that I’d have a chance of attracting an alpha, not smelling the way I did, which was not smelling of anything at all.

  Nope. I was going to end up living out my life single and untouched – no matter what I wanted. It’s probably cliché to say that I wanted to find love and bond and be happy and have my two-point-four kids, but… yeah. I kind of did want that. But the chances were good I wasn’t going to be able to find it again.

  Well. Almost. I’d have summers at Camp Lake Omega, and Zachary across the lake.

  That’d have to be enough.

  “Well, aren’t you a chipper little chipmunk this morning?” said Justine the morning after the night with Zachary. Well – the three hours, since I had to make sure I was back in my bunk well before the sun rose. Didn’t want my campers to wake up and see my empty, untouched bed and start asking questions. The last thing I wanted – or needed – was a scandal to break out. I had a good idea that Zach didn’t want any of that on him, either.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, upending the sugar into my coffee.

  “You mean apart from the grin plastered over your face this morning?” asked Justine. “And the spring in your step? Plus you practically sang good morning to Bob just now, and he’s barely even awake.”

  “I can’t help it if it’s going to be a really good day,” I protested. I frowned as the sugar flow slowed down. I gave the canister a shake, and it started up again.

  “Says the man who is drinking half the coffee supply in camp,” said Justine. “And that’s after you were skipping on your way to the showers.”

  “Was not!”

  “I can provide witnesses from my cabin. Jeez, leave a little sugar for the rest of us.”

  “Coffee is horrible and needs to be eradicated from the earth,” I said, giving the sugar dispenser another shake. The blasted thing was empty. “Dammit. We need more sugar.”

  “Ugh, morning people,” groaned Justine. “Give me that.”

  She snatched the sugar away and went off to the back of the cafeteria. I added milk to my coffee and stirred everything together. By the time she’d returned with the sugar canister, I’d decided my cup of horrible was at least palatable.

  Justine poured herself a cup and added far less sugar than I did. “Oh man, I need this,” she sighed, holding the cup with both hands and breathing in the aroma before taking a deep drink. “Mmmm.”

  “Didn’t think you were a caffeine addict,” I said. I couldn’t remember seeing Justine drink coffee the previous week.

  “I’m not. Just didn’t get a wink of sleep last night.” She looked at me over her cup, and my stomach plummeted.

  Oh shit, she knows.

  Except I wasn’t sure how. The entire camp had been pitch-black dark when I’d gotten in, and I was a thousand percent sure that I hadn’t made a single sound. None of my campers were awake when I’d crawled into my bed. I was reasonably sure they hadn’t woken in the middle of the night, either.

  “Oh?” I asked brightly. “Someone have a nightmare?”

  “Let’s just say I was very well motivated to stay up,” said Justine smugly, just as Nathan sat across from her.

  “As if you have anything that could get up,” Nathan snorted.

  “I wasn’t talking about me, moron,” said Justine. Nathan dropped his tray on the table, and his cereal sloshed over the edge of his bowl.

  “Seriously? Reba? Last night?”

  “Yup,” said Justine smugly. She shifted on her seat, sucking in a little sharp breath as she did that left no doubt about why she might feel sitting to be an uncomfortable position.

  “Holy shit,” said Nathan, running his hand through his hair. “Well, share the deets. How was it?”

  Justine’s eyes sparkled, but she didn’t say anything as she sipped from her coffee cup.

  “Fine, fine,” said Nathan. “Don’t tell me. Tell Reba I said hey, okay?”

  “Can do. But I think she’s looking forward to catching up with you. She’s just got groundwork to lay first.”

  “Sure, talk about groundwork when groundwork is sitting next to me at breakfast,” said Nathan good-naturedly.

  “No need to be crass about it,” said Justine mildly.

  “What?” I asked. “Wait – are you talking about me?”

  “Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” said Justine.

  “Jim’s an omega, it’s not like he has any right to be prudish about it,” snorted Nathan, and he turned to me. “Okay, Jim, brace yourself for scandal and outrage. You sitting?”

  “Um, yes?”

  “You may not be aware, but there’s a camp on the other side of the lake.” Nathan leaned in close. “Filled. With. Alphas.”

  “Oh my stars,” I said sarcastically. “I had no idea.”

  Nathan nodded solemnly. “And over there is a very special counselor named Reba. An alpha of the finest caliber and certain… talents.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said, eyes narrowing.

  “Every summer, Reba slips over here in the dark of night to share her certain special… camping experience with the counselors on this side of the lake.”

  “That’s a really awful euphemism, Nathan.”

  “No kidding,” said Justine, amused. “I am so totally telling her you said that.”

  Nathan stretched his hands out to Justine, almost as if he was prostrating himself before her. “Oh, Recipient of Reba’s Favors, share with us your arcane knowledge!”

  “Ugh,” groaned Justine, but she was laughing. “Fuck off, Nathan.”

  “In time,” said Nathan, reaching his arms up as if he’d just been stretching out his muscles all along. “So, Jim? Shocked and appalled?”

  “Nope,” I said, but I couldn’t help the beating of my heart. There’d been someone else crossing the lake the night before. What if I’d run into her? What if she hadn’t cared about my lack of scent? What if she’d realized what I was and decided I was better sport than Justine?

  Zachary’s worries suddenly seemed a lot more realistic then.

  I caught up with Justine as we were leaving the cafeteria. “So… it’s serious with you and Reba?”

  Justine blushed. “Not really. Just a bit of summertime fun, you know? I like her a lot – I wouldn’t mind something serious, but… that’s not how Reba rolls. She’s never made much of a secret of it. And anyway—” Justine grinned “—there’s something about female alphas, you know?”

  “Not really.”

  Justine chuckled, as if she knew something I didn’t. Which she probably did, considering my only experience with alphas had been with the male variety. “Let’s just say that Reba really knows what she’s doing. And does it very, very well. An experience not worth missing, definitely.”

  “Ooookay,” I said.

  Justine hip checked me, still amused at her own joke. “You never said why you needed the caffeine this morning, Jim.”

  They say there’s no better cover than the truth.

  “Well,” I said, “obviously because I was having wild, uninhibited sex, of course.”

  Justine laughed and let it drop.

  Yup. The truth works every time.

  It took about a week for me to get used to the rhythm of camp as a coun
selor. There were a lot more meetings than I thought there’d be – but aside from that, it wasn’t too bad. Despite from initial chocolate frosting incident, my campers were young enough to still be sweet and innocent. It’s not until the second or third year at camp when kids become comfortable enough to start causing trouble.

  It also helped that I was a lot more relaxed than I’d been in years – and Zachary had everything to do with that. I didn’t go over every night, but I did manage to make it over twice more before the first week was up. I didn’t see any sign of Reba – I wasn’t sure what I’d have done if I ran into her – but I was as careful as I could be, because running into her was the last thing I wanted.

  I almost said something to Zachary about her – before I remembered that he might not think too well of one of his counselors sneaking over to the omega camp for night time “training sessions.” It wasn’t as if she was hurting anyone or anything. Justine had been very clear that Reba wasn’t the least bit interested in the campers, which really was the only objection I had.

  “She’s not that kind of alpha,” Justine had assured me when I brought it up. “The kids don’t interest her at all. I’ve known her for years – way longer than I’ve been coming here. Trust me, the day Reba shows the slightest bit of interest in one of the campers, I’ll string her up by her balls myself.”

  I frowned. “Do female alphas have balls?”

  “Oh my God,” groaned Justine. “It is way too early in the morning for an anatomy lesson.”

  “Just because you were up half the night with Reba—”

  “Go away while I drink my coffee,” ordered Justine.

  Part of me wished Justine would answer the question. Yeah, I was a little curious about Reba – but it was pure curiosity, not actual attraction. Justine had shown me a picture of Reba later that day, and Reba was pretty, with straight black hair half down her back, and dark almond-shaped eyes. Like most female alphas, she had small breasts and a square figure instead of the hourglass figure more common to beta or omega females. I don’t mean to say she was masculine – she wasn’t, not at all. But even in a photograph, she exuded a confidence and self-assuredness that omegas and most betas lacked. She was the type of woman who could walk into a room and own it. That, more than her anatomy, marked her as an alpha. It was that confidence – along with the pheromones – that made her so attractive to most omegas. And, clearly, betas like Justine.

  But the only person I could think about kissing me, touching me… was Zachary. Maybe that’s because he was really my only option for those activities – maybe it was because I could still feel his fingers on my skin, in my hair, around my cock… but yeah. I didn’t want to think about Reba, when I could be thinking about Zachary instead.

  Luckily, I never had a very long wait to see him. After the first week, we settled on a standard routine, generally every other night once the camps had gone to bed. I’d stay for a couple of hours, and then head back to Camp Lake Omega several hours before dawn so that I could get some sleep.

  “It’s not exactly fair to you,” Zachary apologized one night, when we were still naked and wrapped up in each other. Truth be told, as much as I liked the sex – and I really liked the sex – I liked the quiet moments afterwards, too, when we were still warm and damp and pressed close together. Those were the moments I hadn’t had enough of with Kevin. Barely remembered them, really, but now I had them by the score with Zachary. Two weeks in, and I still couldn’t get enough of them.

  Funnily enough, I didn’t think he could get enough of them either, because he always held on tighter just before it was time for me to go, even as I could tell that he’d be asleep before I closed the door. It was like he wanted me to stay until morning – not that it was a good idea, but still.

  “Better than you coming over to our camp,” I said. “Your campers won’t notice me, but if you show up on our side, you’re facing a world of trouble if you’re caught.”

  It was true: an unbonded alpha in a camp full of young, unbonded omegas? Hell, he’d be lucky if all he lost was his job.

  “And you wouldn’t?” he countered.

  I shrugged. “Yeah, but… what’s the worst they could do to me? Send me home and shove me into the bonding pool, or never let me bond again. It’s not like either one of those options was never on the table for me anyway. You, though – you could lose your job over me. Or worse, you could get arrested, if my parents want to press charges.”

  “You’re an adult,” said Zachary. “You’re old enough to make your own decisions.”

  “I’m an omega,” I corrected him. “And since I’m not technically bonded, I’m still under my father’s supervision.”

  Zachary was quiet for a while after that. I couldn’t see his face, not very clearly – but I could hear him thinking.

  “Hey,” I said softly, nuzzling up next to him. “I want to be here. As long as you want me to be here – we’re good. Okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Zach. He rolled over so that we were on our sides, facing each other. I liked that position best of all, really. “Just… not sure why you’d want to be here, that’s all. Especially if your parents are going to try to set you up with an alpha come fall.”

  He sounded sleepy. I wondered, if I delayed answering him, if he’d fall asleep, and let me avoid answering him altogether.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t know the answer. I did. It was just… not exactly one I wanted to admit, especially to him. There weren’t too many lights by which it made me look very good, and I liked to think that Zachary… well, that he liked me.

  That might have been just wishful thinking, though. He probably would forget my name the day after the campers all went home.

  Zachary’s breathing slowed; I could hear the far-off sounds of crickets and bullfrogs. It was getting late – I’d have to head back to Camp Lake Omega soon. It was hard leaving, though. Zachary’s bed was a lot more comfortable than my dinky little cot, and I felt guilty at the thought of leaving him behind while he was asleep.

  I had just started to roll away when Zachary spoke – obviously not asleep after all.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

  I sighed and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s… not a sure thing, you know. Me bonding again. I didn’t get pregnant the first go, so there’s that. And you know I don’t smell quite right.”

  “Not your fault,” said Zachary. I felt his hand on my stomach. It was a comfortable warm weight, anchoring me down.

  “No, but… kind of a strike against me, when compared to omegas five years younger and without any previous mark on their neck. My parents aren’t likely to let me come back here, either. If I don’t bond this fall – I’ll probably never be able to live away from them again. So…”

  I trailed off, but he finished for me.

  “So this could be your last chance,” he said softly. “To have anything like this at all.”

  I rolled over to face him. “Yeah. It sounds awful, I know. But… I liked Kevin. He was a nice guy, I’m glad I got to know him, I’m glad we had that week together. But you know, I really missed this”—I rolled my hips toward him, and he chuckled as he gasped—“the physical connection between me and someone else.”

  “Even outside estrus?”

  “Especially outside estrus. I don’t remember much about it, with Kevin. Too many pheromones. But sex, in general? Sex in general is…” I took a breath, and tried to screw up my courage. Nice omegas didn’t admit to this. “Sex is fantastic.”

  Zachary laughed and pulled me closer. “I don’t know if you can call it awful to take advantage of whatever fleeting pleasure life offers you. I don’t blame you for taking every chance you’ve got.”

  “Except I’m taking advantage of you,” I pointed out.

  “No more so than I’m taking advantage of you. Own free will, remember? Not influenced by pesky pheromones.”

  “Never thought I’d be grateful for that,” I said, and kissed him. We didn’t say much a
fter that.

  Honestly, I just felt safe with Zachary. Sure, I liked the sex – but more than that, I liked talking to him, joking with him, eating peanut butter sandwiches in his bed while we compared stories of our respective campers.

  And I liked the freedom that sneaking out gave me. I liked knowing that for once, I was in charge of my own actions. For a few hours every night, I wasn’t responsible for or to anyone. I liked the solitude of crossing the lake in my canoe: the quiet splash of the paddle in the water, the sound of the cicadas and frogs and all the other nighttime creatures, the way the moonlight danced on the ripples. I didn’t really want to give that up.

  Every other night was just right. Any more frequently than that, and we’d have been too exhausted to perform our jobs in the daylight – let alone stay awake for our nighttime activities. Plus it cut down on the chances of meeting the mysterious and apparently extremely talented Reba. I’d gotten the impression that she was meeting up with Justine on a similar schedule opposite ours, which was just fine by me. I didn’t much relish the idea of meeting her by moonlight in the middle of the lake.

  Of course, some things are bound to happen. I’d been seeing Zachary for two weeks when I slipped out of my cabin just after midnight. I’d taken two steps off the front porch when she spoke.

  “Hello there.”

  I froze. There’s a classic trope in ‘mega lit that when an alpha speaks, an omega is bound to listen. Something about the tone of their voice or something. I’ve never known any omega who believes this nonsense, nor any alpha who had that kind of power over me – not even Zachary – but something about the way Reba spoke to me in the dark of night made me stop right in my tracks and freeze.

  Or maybe that was just outright fear. I mean – unbonded omega here, talking to an unbonded alpha, and no one else around. They write Law & Order episodes about stuff like that.

  “Yup, it’s nighttime, better go back to sleep now,” I said brightly. I turned right back around, hoping I could get up the steps and inside the cabin faster than she could. But in my head, I was rapidly going through my mental calendar. Reba had visited Justine the night before – Justine had drunk copious amounts of coffee, same as she always did after an all-nighter with Reba. They weren’t switching their schedule, were they?