Sous and Shadow came upon an inn where they asked about staying the night. The woman, an Alpha, smiled at them and made eye contact with Shadow. "Oh...I see we meet again," she said. "You have...an Alpha already?"
Sous looked the woman up and down, seeing she was wearing a traditional robe known as a kimono. She looked at Shadow who shook his head at the assumption.
"She is a student from many years ago," she told the inn keeper. Sous was able to put two and two together to know that this must have been the Alpha to teach him the shamisen. "You travel fast, I see," he said to her.
Sous scarfed, it was like he was on his best behavior in front of this Alpha. Speaking in such a weird way compared to his usual blunt tone.
"Join me for me tea," she commanded.
"I am not fit for any more children, Alpha," he told her back.
She nodded her head, replying she didn't seek children from him, that she already had a few. That she no longer wanted nor needed more.
Sous tried to sit the way the Alpha sat with her knees tucked underneath her but found herself tensing, and strained.
The Alpha laughed. "You have muscular legs. Your muscles are tensed. Have an Omega give you a massage if you have the coin," she instructed Sous.
The green tea came and Sous simply remained quiet as the two spoke to one another. They spoke like secret lovers, their voice in a whisper. Sous watched their movements, their hands, their fingers. Shadow really wanted her. If she was able to sniff out his pheromones then surely this Alpha could.
To let them be, Sous went out back and sat in the inn's hot spring. She was going to miss this; in fact, maybe she would build one for their cabin. Yeah, she would do that!
She leaned back against the smooth stone, steam rising in thick curls that blurred the lanterns strung overhead.
The water's heat seeped into her muscles, a sharp contrast to the cool night air on her face. She closed her eyes, listening to the faint murmur of the inn, a clatter of dishes, footsteps on wooden floors, the distant hum of conversation muffled by paper screens.
Her fingers traced the edge of the pool, rough-hewn granite worn smooth by years of mineral-rich water. She wondered if Shadow had ever sat here, thinking of that Alpha.
The thought prickled, but she pushed it down. Instead, she focused on the scent of wet stone and pine resin, the way the steam clung to her skin like a second layer.
SLAP, SLAP! CLAP, CLAP!
Sous woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of skin meeting skin. She turned her head and saw the nude bodies of her mentor being thrusted into by the Alpha. Her kimono was hanging up neatly on the wall while sweat glistened her body.
Their moans and grunts low and soft, not wanting to wake Sous, not knowing she was awake to begin with. Her ear twitched, hearing the Alpha was almost finished. The way she was breathing, erratic. Sous dared to not move even with her face flushed.
The final thrusts were done and they were quiet with the Alpha lying on top of Shadow. Soon, she got up and walked to her Kimono, putting it on. She left while Shadow went to sleep.
Sous lay frozen, eyes squeezed shut against the dim lantern light filtering through the rice-paper screen. Her own breathing felt unnaturally loud in the sudden stillness, a harsh counterpoint to the fading echoes of wet skin and stifled groans.
The scent of sex hung thick in the air, mingling with the mineral tang of the hot spring still clinging to her pores and the faint, sweet incense drifting from the main room.
Her cheek pressed against the cool tatami mat, rough fibres scratching her skin, grounding her in the uncomfortable reality. Every nerve felt scraped raw, hyper-aware of the rustle of silk as the Alpha dressed, the soft pad of bare feet retreating across the wooden floorboards, the deep, satisfied sigh Shadow released before his breathing deepened into sleep.
Heat radiated from her own face, a furious blush spreading down her neck and chest, prickling beneath the thin sleeping robe. She didn't dare move, not even to shift the cramp forming in her calf, afraid the slightest rustle would betray her wakefulness.
The silence stretched, punctuated only by Shadow's rhythmic breaths and the distant, mournful cry of an owl outside. It felt heavy, accusatory, pressing down on her, but soon Sous, too, was back to sleep.
"Your face is so red," Shadow said the next morning when they sat in the hot spring.
"I saw you and the Alpha last night."
Shadow's face became blue. He stopped splashing and turned his face to Sous. He gulped. "You saw..."
Sous nodded her head. He sunk into the water and blew out bubbles.
"She was big..."
Shadow came back up from the water, this time his face was red. He nodded though at Sous' assessment of the Alpha.
He didn't apologize. Sous didn't expect him to. Instead, he rubbed his face vigorously, as if washing away the awkwardness rather than the hot spring minerals. Sous mirrored him, scrubbing her cheeks until they felt raw. The steam coiled around them, thicker now, obscuring the other bank of the pool.
She watched Shadow's shoulders, taut, defensive, then relax incrementally as the heat worked its way into his muscles. His knuckles, gripping the stone ledge, slowly unclenched.
It was time to leave the inn and continue on their journey back to the jungle. It was hard to say just how long it would take, not being able to summon or teleport, meant anything. Sous would have to write Kara and her kids to not make them worry.
With their tools on their backs, they left the inn and continued down the main road which would lead them down and up to the mountains.
"Maps! Get your maps!" A man yelled. Sous noticed he was human. The duo appoarched him. "Oooo, you two look foreign. Where are you from?"
"Canas and Nadia," Shadow answered.
"I see...well, here's one for the journey, on the house."