Gael looked at his sister and her gang of friends. "I was told to come here by our mother and father. I could care less about what the rest of you think." He said before locking eyes with Noah.

Noah’s heart thumped; the other person was so handsome. 

He had never expected Reina’s brother to look like this. Gael looked to be as tall as his dad. The other person’s eyes were silver with slivers of gold in them. His jawline looked like it could cut stone, and his hair was pitch-black. His skin was slightly tanned and muscles could be seen even with his shirt on, showing that he was probably a lot more ripped than he was showing. Compared to his dad, he wasn't as hairy, thick in size, or burly. 

Well, what can you do in the face of naturally blessed people? He averted his eyes and continued, "Ok, then please follow me." He brought them towards the direction of the river.

The cheerful camaraderie that had been there in the beginning had stopped once Gael had joined the group. A thick tension could be felt, but the only ones who hadn't noticed the strangeness in the air were, of course, Gael and Reina, who were the causes of it in the first place. 

Noah glanced back and saw Gael walking confidently alongside the others. He was just so cool... He couldn’t wait until he presented as an alpha.

They finally arrived at the river. Immediately, everyone's mood brightened up, and they began to strip. I felt a huge culture shock befall me as they did so. Was this what other packs did? Didn’t they realize that he was a stranger and an alpha as well? Is it normal for the guys and girls to bathe together where they're from? When I saw them all go in to bathe together, I immediately turned around and attempted to leave the situation.

Unluckily for me, Gael had noticed my attempt to leave and called me out. He wasn't undressed like the others and had found a spot under a tree to watch them under. He guessed it was in case something bad ended up happening. Noah understood because it had just happened to him yesterday. 'Obviously they would be comfortable stripping in front of Gael because they all grew up together, but for me, someone they've only met today and an alpha?' I ignored the fact that I hadn't presented as an alpha yet.

"Do you also plan on bathing too?" He asked suddenly.

I couldn't tell what he was thinking when he said that, so I just stared back at him while trying to keep my turbulent emotions under control. Before I could tell them that I had planned to bathe on my own and had brought them here as a favor. Reina began to shout my name, which soon caused the others to copy her.

"Come on, Noah! There's plenty of room in the river. " Reina yelled out, standing up in the water unabashedly.

"Yeah! We're all omega's here... except for that guy there, but you don't have to worry about him attacking you. He's got no feelings for anyone other than his sister! " Remy said.

At those words, Reina splashed Remy's face with water.

My eyes widened in understanding. 'So they mistook me as an omega? So that means that Oliver and Benjamin are male omegas. ' Noah’s eyes widened at the thought.

"Quit standing there and join us!" Oliver shouted. His pale body blinded my eyes in all of his n*ked glory.

I continue to stand there dazedly, doing the opposite of what Oliver wanted.

"If you don't want me to see you undressed, I'll leave," Gael said suddenly, and stood up.

Everyone gasped in shock. Gael... caring about another person's feelings? Even Reina had her mouth open. At Gael's expression, a thought suddenly popped into Noah’s mind. He had to say something.

He hurriedly stopped Gael, "It’s fine if you don’t leave. I’m just not really comfortable bathing with strangers."

At that, Noah could suddenly feel the mood plummet.

"What do you mean, strangers? I thought we were already friends! " Oliver yelled out with cupped hands.

Noah had no idea what to say. They were being so insistent that he couldn’t refuse. He bit his lip in contemplation. ‘I lost my chance to leave. Would it be suspicious if he decided to leave even after they were being so welcoming? ’ He weighed the pros and cons, but there were only cons. ‘Firstly, it’s against my morals to bathe with omegas. Secondly, there was a high chance of the others finding out he was an alpha. The chief would then hear about the situation and exile me like he did with Axel. The other pack leader might end up waging war against our village because of me! ' My imagination went wild. I closed my eyes and reopened them. This wasn’t right.

Before he could fully leave the bathing area, he was suddenly pulled into the river. The water soaked through his clothes as he fell in. The sudden action disoriented him as he went deep into the river and left him sputtering as he resurfaced, gasping for air.

"Sorry, Noah. You weren’t coming in, so we had to drag you in ourselves! " Benjamin said. His tone was mischievous. To Noah, it didn’t sound like he was sorry at all. 

"You were much lighter than we had expected. Are you hurt?" Holly asked the other. She reached out a hand for the other to grab, ‘If that was the case, then they would have only needed one person to drag Noah in.’ She looked at the other omega with guilt. He could have gotten concussed and he ended up falling so deep.

Noah grabbed her hand and was surprised when he was pulled up immediately. She was a lot stronger than he had expected. She was so petite as well. Where was she hiding all of that strength?

The others surrounded Noah in worry. Even Benjamin was no longer joking about the situation, "Are you angry, Noah?" He looked at the other man with guilt-filled eyes.

Normally, Noah would have enjoyed the little prank, but at that moment, he only found it a bit awkward. He averted his gaze from the naked bodies surrounding him and looked upwards towards where he had last seen Gael and discovered that he was no longer there. He could only let out a sigh of relief. For some reason, he was more nervous with the alpha around than when he was with the group of omegas.

"I’m not angry and I’m not hurt either," The prank could have gone wrong in so many ways; he was just glad that he hadn’t ended up landing on anybody while he had gotten pulled in.

"Well, since you’re not hurt, you might as well start stripping. It’s weird to see that you still have your clothes on while we don’t. Enjoy the water~ It’s warm and you’re already wet. Don’t think too hard about things and just go with the flow. " Dara told Noah.

Noah looked at his reflection in the water. ‘I guess it should be fine. It’s not like I’ve presented as an alpha yet. ’ Making up his mind, Noah began to take off his clothes and threw them as hard as he could towards the river bank. Unfortunately, his bathing materials and towel had gotten washed away as he had been holding onto the items when he had gotten pulled in. 

"Oh gee, what a rockin' body!" Dara covered her mouth as she whistled in appreciation. "Your freckles really make you stand out." She turned to look at Gael to see if the alpha was taking a peep and saw that he was nowhere to be found. She was a bit disappointed as she wanted to see the alpha’s reaction, but at least he was keeping his word.

Noah, on the other hand, ignored the other girl’s words. The comments didn’t bother him as much as when his packmates would say it, and Gael wasn’t around to hear it being said. He dipped himself in the warm water. Other than that, it was the first time in a while that he had felt comfortable bathing. As he no longer had any bathing materials, he resorted to using the fresh water and his hands. He remembered to clean the dirty areas that Axel touched with his hands, and rubbed himself until his skin turned red. His body began to heat up, but Noah chalked it up as being due to the friction of him rubbing his skin raw earlier.

The feeling was strange, and he noticed his skin beginning to heat up even more. He began to feel dizzy. The smell of a faint citrus scent began to permeate the area. It got stronger and stronger over time, and he began to lose control of his senses.

Apparently, the smell also caused something to stir within the other omegas, because when I looked up from where I sat, Reina was standing right in front of me.

"I noticed that you didn’t have any soap. Since it was mainly our fault that you had lost your belongings, you wouldn’t mind if we helped you out? " Reina said her intentions were not getting through to Noah’s mind. Everyone pulled out their soap and attempted to wash his body.

As his mind slightly cleared from shock, Noah grabbed their hands and stood up.

"It’s fine. I can handle it on my own. "