7. Zoe
Zoe
Once we get our plates, Warren guides me to a table that is already occupied by a large man with dark hair.
“Cliff!” Warren sets his plate down with a clang and pulls out a chair across from his roommate. “Mind if we join you?”
He shrugs and scoots his chair a little to the side before using his foot to push the one beside him out. “Have a seat.”
I had been planning on sitting next to Warren, but I don’t want to ignore the gesture. He’s Warren’s roommate, so we need to get along, because I’ll be at his place often enough.
“Zoe and I had our first Menagerie Management class today,” Warren says around a mouthful of pasta. “How did you like that one?”
Cliff grunts and takes a bite of his sandwich. After a moment, he swallows and looks at Warren. “It’s fine. But if you get a shitty Alpha Aide, you’re gonna struggle. They all have to do it each year after their first, but some of them really shouldn’t.”
As Cliff talks, I think about the warmth that coursed through my body when we first touched. It wasn’t unlike when I touched the garnet during my ceremony, but he didn’t seem to feel the same. I bet his hand was just really warm from being asleep.
That must be it.
Warren pauses with a fork halfway to his mouth. “How will we know if we get a good one? And how do I make sure we do?”
Cliff sets his fork down and takes a sip of water.
“Earth Alphas are the most aggressive. Sea Alphas sometimes feel disconnected from their beasts because they don't feel at home unless they shift near a body of water. It makes them much less likely to go feral or have a rogue shift. Air ones are hit or miss, but their beasts are clever, so they’re easier to reason with.”
“So we want a Sea Alpha.” I eat as I listen to the guys talk. My appetite really isn’t here, but the soup I got isn’t too bad. Warren is invested in the conversation, and I'm happy to not contribute. “How do we make sure we get one?”
Cliff didn’t seem like a chatty guy at first, but maybe it was just because he was tired when we first met.
He swipes his beer and takes a sip. “You can’t, not really.
Not unless you meet one and ask them to volunteer, but after the second year, they tend to keep to themselves. That’s when they start to pack up.”
I thought they made their packs around Omegas, but then again, it’s not like I know any Alphas or Omegas. I bet that because they outnumber the Omegas so much, some of them assume they’ll never find one and act accordingly.
Warren’s roommate turns a little to the side and addresses me. He's handsome, and his pretty smile captivates me. “You enjoying yourself yet?”
“Not particularly. I went for a run last night and got chased by a sabertooth tiger.”
Warren gapes at me. “You didn’t tell me that!”
I’m not sure why I told Cliff. It just popped out. I don’t want to have to explain the Omega accusation, and I don't like keeping things from Warren. I want to tell him what happened at the ceremony, but if that voice wasn't a hallucination, I don't want to risk pissing off a Goddess.
“Sabertooth? That’s gotta be Dominic Bradly.
He's the only sabertooth I've ever heard of, and was one of the Alpha Aides for my class last year.” Clifford reclines in his chair, resting his palms on the back of his head.
The movement stretches his plain black shirt over his broad chest, making the hem ride up a bit and revealing a hairy strip of flesh above his pants.
He’s a mountain of a man, and I wonder if he knows how attractive he is.
I flip the name of the man from the woods over in my mind. “He chastised me for being out there after dark, so he chased me out. Not something I want to happen again, so I suppose I’ll stick to the residency circles.”
“There are some people here who don’t have great control over their beasts, but I didn't think he was one of them, so that’s a little surprising.”
“Do you spend a lot of time with Alphas?” Warren asks Cliff.
Cliff makes a clicking noise with his tongue. “Nah, but I work in the library. I see and hear things people think are private.” His eyes widen, and he holds both hands up. "Not on purpose, I swear. People forget that there are others around when it's so quiet."
“I haven’t been up there yet, but I’ll need to soon. I have some catching up to do on the curriculum.” I push the bowl of soup away, surprised to see I managed to eat most of it.
“Well, come find me when you do. I’ll show you around.”
I fight back a pleased smile. “I’d like that.”
Warren looks between the two of us with an odd expression on his face before a handsome mask falls into place. “What is there to do for fun around here when we’re not in class?”
“Not a whole lot. I think there’s a chess club that meets on the third floor.
” Cliff stands up and gathers his trash, even wiping up the crumbs off the table with the side of his hands.
“It’s not much different than the university I went to, except now people tend to keep to their designations.
Alphas don’t want to be seen slumming it with Betas.
And Gods forbid they allow an Omega to leave their comfy little nest.”
He says that last bit with derision, but I don't think it's toward the Omegas. A not-so-tiny part of me feels sad for them. I wonder how many of them were like me, dreading becoming one, terrified of being locked away?
Warren and I clean up our things and follow Cliff out of the Hub. I scramble to catch up to him.
“Do you see the Omegas often?”
He glances at me and shortens his stride to walk abreast of me.
“Only twice a year. There’s a presentation where the Omegas are paraded before everyone so the Alphas can see whether any of them have appealing scents and apply to court them.
They say it’s also meant as an opportunity for the Omegas to see if they have a Beta match, but that never happens. ”
A few sentences, and now I have so many questions. I don’t want to ask Cliff, though, in case he gets curious about why I’m showing so much interest in Omega affairs. Plus, Warren is stomping around behind us like he’s angry that he’s not in the middle of the conversation, which is strange.
Cliff heads into his and Warren’s room, but my friend follows me into mine.
“You and Cliff seem to hit it off.”
I kick my shoes off and put my bag in the corner. “I guess?"
“Whatever. Anyway. Do you want to try to find an Alpha to ask to be our Aide?” He flops onto my bed and props himself up against the headboard. “I think we should try to find someone Blessed by Aenella.”
“I feel like that would be weird. It’s not like we just run into Alphas around campus. You planning to go hunting?”
A predatory smile stretches across his face. “Maybe. I bet there are a few that wouldn’t mind taking on a Beta.”
Thinking about Warren being a part of a pack gives me an odd feeling. It’s not jealousy, but it’s the closest feeling I can compare it to. It's uncomfortable and weighs heavy in my gut.
Warren has dated. So have I. But when you're told your whole life you'll end up together, you start to believe it. We did make out one time when we were drunk, but we never spoke about it again.
It was good, though.
Our mothers would be thrilled if we ended up together. They used to joke that we’d get married when we were children, chattering excitedly about how they’ll basically be sisters when we do.
“So, do you still want to be with an Alpha?” I lower myself onto the bed beside him, but I don’t meet his eye.
“I mean, I think I’d like to try it. I bet they have insane stamina. Do you think they can knot Betas?”
Male Alphas have a knot on the base of their dicks that swells and traps an Omega onto them.
It’s an evolutionary thing, encouraging reproduction, but I never spent that much time studying Alpha cocks to know exactly how it works.
Female Alphas have a lock inside them that is made to clamp down on and hold a male Omega inside them during sex.
I really should pay attention in my anatomy and physiology class. If I want to go into the medical field, which I don’t know if I do, but I should leave my options open, I need to understand how their bodies differ from ours at the bare minimum.
“What about an Omega?” I hold my breath waiting for his answer.
I keep trying to convince myself that the voice in my head that called me an Omega was a hallucination, but I still want to know if he’d stick around if I were one.
Not that I am, but I’m curious.
“I mean, sure. They’re built for sex, right? Like that’s their whole thing. I wouldn’t want to match with one, though. I’m not looking to take care of someone so high maintenance.”
There is an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, like I can't quite breathe, at that declaration. I glance at him from the corner of my eye. “You think it’d be that bad?”
Alphas and Omegas are drawn toward one another by pheromones and body chemistry. Betas don’t have those same pheromones, but in rare instances, an Omega’s beast will claim a Beta as their own.
“They’re spoiled and worshipped by their Alphas, and I’m not looking to do the same. I would fuck one, but being with them forever? No thanks."
Warren changes the subject, talking about his plan to get us the best Alpha Aide, but I can’t shake the cloud the conversation has cast over me.
I’d better pray to the Gods that the voice in my head at the ceremony was a hallucination, or I may lose my best friend.