Even though Orthon had been to the hot springs with the gods once before, he still had that feeling of being just a little robin next to mighty tigers. Even if he did a little sport to keep some muscle mass, his body was nothing like Moain's! So much muscle for such a tall body, the noble vampire knew that a simple slap from him could hit him against the wall. And it wasn't all that impressive about him. Not complaining about his anatomy, even though he was an alpha, was complicated. So, uncomfortable in the hot water, he dared not look at anything other than the water.
"Well, you look uncomfortable Orthon," Day said, coming over to sit on the water's edge with his towel.
"Let's say the bird wonders what he's doing with tigers."
"You are an eagle rather than just a little bird," Moain smirked while sipping his glass of cocktail.
"Not if you compare me to you."
"No one can compare to the gods of earth and gravity except Day's family," Nyx replied as he stepped into the water."Ah, how good…"
"Without indiscretion, your weight is by how much, Moain-sama?"
"One hundred and twenty kilos of muscle, not a fart of fat!"
"And you are two meters tall…"
"It's in the family and believes me it's complicated when it comes to clothing. Fortunately, they are made to measure."
"It is true that in commerce you will be hard-pressed to find anything that fits perfectly."
"And you Orthon, how much do you weigh?"
"I weigh sixty-five kilograms for one meter eighty."
"I saw you smaller."
"You see everyone smaller!" exclaimed Foud, arriving nonchalantly with a cocktail in his hand."You don't risk being mistaken for an omega!"
"And you for an alpha with your short stature, one-meter seventy-four sir!"
"At least I'm taller than Day."
"Let's not start with my height," the blonde in question growled as he stayed on the water's edge."I know I'm short, no need to point it out to me."
"It all depends on what we're talking about, eh."
"means which Foud?"
"You might be short in size but as for the crotch, are you too?"
"But I'm going to drown you!" Nyx shouted, sitting up in the water."Get in the water so I can drown you, dirty little omega pervert, now!"
"I was joking!"
"Come here!"
"Leit, help me!"
The alpha woman sat up in her recliner and looked at him before getting up, a sly smirk on her face. Even before the omega had time to understand, he found himself in the water and his numerous arm movements struggled to bring him to the surface. Nyx was going to take this chance to drown him but Day put his hand on his shoulder, laughing to see the god of lightning spitting water back into his lungs.
"When you're an omega, you don't talk about size!" Leit deliberately challenged with pride."Whether he's male, female or any gender if he chooses, omegas are small in their crotch or breasts!"
"Why did you push me?!"
"I wanted to, of course! Nyx, you can drown him."
"No don't. I don't bathe with a corpse," objected Minndt.
They all turned to him and unwittingly stared at the still-fresh scars on his body before he completely removed his haori. The effort was great for the god but if he didn't do it now, he never would, he knew it.
"If you don't feel it, don't," Day reassured with a tender smile.
"That's not it... You look at me like I'm missing!"
"Well, we haven't seen you in a while and we're being careful."
"Careful?"
"The point is not to make you do something you don't want to. Just getting some fresh air will be enough but the water is hot today!"
The god of spirit and feelings in turn smiled and continued to advance to the hot spring, quickly sitting on the edge. The black and gold shorty swimsuit, common to all the gods, was indented on the sides and the middle of the bust. This halterneck swimsuit didn't cover Minndt's tattoo in any way, with it starting from the left part of his abdomen and spanning his left hip. The god paid no attention to Orthon's gaze who disputed, to his surprise, that all the gods around him had a mark tattooed on their body. All but Day, he couldn't see any of him. For his part, Minndt gently wiggled those legs as he sipped the sugary refreshment brought by Toxin.
"Do you like it? Day made the cocktails!" informed the god of toxicity before entering the water.
"It's deliciously sweet and fruity. Thank you, Day."
"You're welcome, I'm using what I've learned! I put more sugar in yours," confessed the blonde omega with a mischievous little smile."A lot more sugar even. As sweet as it is. mine! There's chocolate if you want in the jars over there, hehe a lot of chocolate."
"Oh!"
The god of spirit and feelings immediately stood up and took all the jars containing the chocolate, setting them all around him as he resumed his seat at the edge of the basin.
"Reassure me, aren't you going to try to eat it all?" Lou wondered as he was already starting to eat little crunchy chocolate balls.
"I'll eat what I can."
"He's going to eat it all... Day, Foud, if he's sick you'll take responsibility for his father when he comes home."
"He left?"
"For the afternoon, he said if something happened to you we would no longer see the colour of the sky."
"It's something he can say yes... He's just worried."
"And a bit overprotective," Moain added."If I were you, all my dad would say is, I quote: "Do you think you have time to stay in bed? You're going to train and faster than that, get moving!" End of quote. I have to be three-quarters dead for him to admit I can't train."
"It's strange such a difference in education when you live in the same place," Orthon remarked as he drew all eyes.
"What is strange is the way you look at us," Lou observed lying on the edge of the hot spring.
"Sorry."
"If you have a question, just say it."
"What's that mark tattooed on you? They don't look alike but you all have them I think except Day-sama."
A long, heavy silence settled in the relaxation space of the monastery, further making the Duke uncomfortable who was about to ask forgiveness when Day spoke.
"I have one too," he said coldly, undoing the small bodice on the side of his swimsuit."When they are still very young, these marks are made on them to show their relationship to the Greats."
"So they represent every Great?"
"Yes, the place is not the same for everyone. Minndt has it on his left side, Toxin in the middle of his chest, Nyx in the back… The place is according to the Great one he represents."
"I wouldn't have seen the symbol of the god of spirit and feelings on the chest anymore. Why this place?"
"This is a question only the Greats can answer."
"Where is your brand?"
"Behind my back, I have the particularity of being born with it."
The young god lifted his legs out of the water and turned his back to him, removing the top of his swimsuit. His finely muscular back was adorned with a dragon mark whose tail was wrapped around another. Small symbols unknown to Orthon were present below the two dragons he swore he saw moving.
"It has moved!" he wondered, his eyes wide.
"Of course I'm alive so it's alive."
"How can you be born with a brand like that?"
"Maybe it's because he's the grandson of the Mighty One," Dark Nyx snapped.
"It's strange."
"We are strange."
"I would say more intriguing than strange. Here, I am the strange person, not you."
"Outside of this place we are. Anyway, it's not like we have anywhere else to go."
"Why is that?"
"Either people constantly harass us as they did with Day, or they try to take advantage of us, or they chase us and try to end our existence. We have already tried, to see. no different."
"It doesn't matter who we are," Day added with a sigh, turning to his friends.
The blond made up his mind to step into the water and sat down on the small step that served as the seat, shifting immediately to Nyx. Orthon would have liked Minndt to face the same, to come and sit next to him, but the god in question continued to eat chocolate.
"I'm happy to be with you anyway. If I had been told I would end up here a few months ago, I wouldn't have believed it!" confided the duke with a sincere smile.
"It would have been nice to meet in a different situation," Toxin couldn't help but say.
"Chances are, we never got a chance to meet then."
"Not wrong... Anyway, you are an atypical person too and a little masochistic, right? Stay here despite what people say about you. People are not so discreet to talk about. behind someone's back..."
" I would rather wax the floor with a toothbrush than go home, seeing what lies ahead."
"Haha, then we'll get you out the shoe polish," Dark Nyx smirked sadly."You can start with my room..."
"Eh?"
"Stop, you'll scare him," Foud growled before taking the pot from hands."Minndt! Stop, you've had enough. You're going to end up sick and I don't want to clean up behind you!"
"Give me that jar immediately."
"No!"
"Give it back to me, right now."
"No, I told you! Stop or I empty it in the water I warn you!"
"Hey, I don't bathe in chocolate!" intervened Nyx."Minndt stop eating it for a while, you have to digest a bit or your stomach will send it all back. Foud puts that pot down where we'll force you to eat all the chocolate in it."
The Omega eyed the beta warily but agreed to put it down, carefully watching that it didn't dig into it again. Yet Minndt wanted something sweet and sweet so much, he needed sweetness. To forget the presence of chocolate, he decided to enter the water and let himself relax by the heat and the breathtaking view of the expanses of the garden.
"It feels good?" Day asked when he began to see him grow thoughtful.
"Yes..."
"What are you thinking?"
"This Order, why does it exist? What are their demands exactly?"
"They say the Order is a bunch of vampires who think they are superior to humans since they are eternal if they are not killed," Orthon replied immediately, catching his gaze.
"Futility."
"Yes. But one thing is good to know about the order: the members themselves do not agree on their demands."
"That's an advantage, keep going."
"Some just want to come out of the shadows, as was the case long ago. Others want to be recognized as superior to humans and thus gain benefits, as is the case with alphas on Omega, unfortunately. Still others, more extreme, see them only as leggy food that needs to be managed."
"I am for the first and part of the second case!" Nyx's brother exclaimed."I'm tired of being treated differently here. I'm shunned like the plague and when I talk to someone, they barely pass out in front of me. me."
"You would get along well with some. The only thing they have in common is their desire for recognition. I too am tired of having to perpetually lie and adopt a lifestyle that is not mine."
"Exactly! Hey but I like you more and more, I'm not going to think about how to kill you when I'm bored anymore."
"Thank you, I think."
"Feel honoured about this," Nyx replied as his hand wandered over Day's waist, pulling him closer to him.
The blond let himself be glued to the warm body and stretched his legs out on the small step, under the puzzled gaze of the noble vampire.
"Are you together, Nyx-sama?" he wondered, his curiosity resurfacing.
"Is the question really need to be asked?"
"Haha no, not really."
"Me, I'm waiting to be an aunt, eh," Leit sneered from her lounger.
"You will end up in the water like Foud!"
"So try to see. Anyway, I'm waiting to be aunt on your side."
"You're going to wait a long time for, my casserole, I'm telling you!"
"Ah well, I suspect it, if that happens I would have a child before you."
"Do you already have to find the right woman, Madam difficult?"
"I'm not picky, I just have high standards."
"Especially when it comes to breasts," sneered in turn Foud.
"Find me an omega with a good pair and we can see how it goes. It's very rare."
"At the same time if you expect her to have the same breast size as you! Sorry, but as you said, we don't talk about size when you're an omega! Omega women are not as generous in the breasts as women alphas. That's how it is. Search among the betas."
"I don't want a beta but an omega! Without offending any beta here."
"No worries," said Minndt and Lou in a common voice.
"Call me when you find her."
"Call me when you find someone, sir, I reject everyone as soon as they say hello."
Omega rolled his eyes and cocked his head on the edge of the hot spring, his bright reddish-brown hair being highlighted by the sun. Orthon had to admit that he was a nice omega and that knowing he wasn't with someone had surprised him, but he only had eyes for the chocolate addict beta. When Minndt met his gaze, he could have sworn he felt his heart increase by the low number of its beats. Seeing Day and Nyx so close, so accomplices, made him a little jealous. He wanted to do that too, to have Minndt by his side. When the beta gave him a small smile, Orthon knew he was trapped.