Chapter 4 #2
Two alphas were tearing into each other, using tooth and nail, like wild animals.
Blood smeared across white floors and walls, and as soon as the slightly smaller male shook out of the other’s hold, he grabbed a blaster off the ground and opened fire.
He didn’t stop until the entire clip had been emptied.
“What is that?” Elm figured there had to be a reason they were showing it to him.
“What happens when a weakling catches scent of you in heat,” Levi stated. In the video, the man was tasered by someone off screen, then the footage ended abruptly. “These were two of the soldiers who came with me to the warehouse where you were discovered.”
“I guess this confirms your hypothesis that he doesn’t remember anything about that night,” Fiora said to the alpha.
Elm took a shaky breath. “What does she mean?”
“Those idiots who turned you had no signs of being feral, and while you were potent, it seemed within normal dominant omega ranges,” Fiora began. “But as soon as the Dominus carried you out, that changed. We believe close contact with a dominant alpha was what triggered it.”
“Six of my guys had to be put down like dogs then and there,” Levi said, and there was a thread of displeasure in his tone. “These two seemed fine until we returned. Then they snapped.”
“At least they only went for each other. The ones outside the fishery attacked the Leviathan trying to get to you,” Fiora elaborated.
“So you killed them?” Elm scowled. “Your own people? Just like that?”
The corner of Levi’s mouth twitched.
“You did the job together, actually.” Fiora shrugged when his gaze whipped over to her.
“Supposedly, when you saw them coming, you attacked with your pheromones. They dropped, in enough agony to keep them distracted, giving the Dominus enough time to draw his weapon and put them out of their misery.”
“I…” Elm couldn’t unpack all of that now, while in their presence. “I don’t remember any of that, but even if I did use aggressive pheromones against them, that doesn’t mean they had to die!”
“They attacked me,” Levi reminded.
“Yeah, but you’re saying that was my fault, not theirs.”
“If they’d been left alive, they would have kept trying,” Fiora said. “The scent of a dominant omega like you can be addicting. Even if they didn’t develop a craving for it, they most definitely would have run their mouths about you.”
And these two were hellbent on keeping Elm’s existence a secret.
“Still. They were one of you. They were White Frost. Is this how you treat your own people? As expendables?”
“You’re more valuable than a handful of soldiers who weren’t even strong enough to fend off an omega in heat,” Levi replied crassly.
Elm frowned. “Every life is valuable.”
“Not like your brother after all.” His gaze sharpened when Elm winced. “A sore spot?”
“Fuck you.”
“Control your emotions.” Levi’s hand tightened in warning for a few seconds before loosening. “Know your place, omega. And stop,” he closed his eyes and inhaled as though seeking patience, “fighting my pheromones.”
Had Elm been fighting them?
All he knew was he was riled up, and he wanted answers. He hadn’t realized that meant he was actively combating Levi’s soothing scent with an irritating one of his own.
“You smell sour,” the alpha scrunched up his nose. “It’s displeasing.”
“Well gee,” he sneered, “forgive me for soiling your olfactory system.”
“You’ll be forgiven,” Levi’s voice firmed, “when you learn to control yourself.”
He was pissed off by the statement, but the fact of the matter was…Elm didn’t know how.
“I can’t,” he hated how pathetic he sounded, but he also wouldn’t allow pride to stand in the way here. Everything was confusing and he felt entirely out of sorts. He needed something, anything, to help make sense of this strange, and frankly fucked, new world he’d found himself thrust into.
He’d take anyone’s help.
Even the Dominus of the White Frost.
“I don’t understand any of this,” he added when Levi didn’t say anything. “I don’t understand my own body anymore. Do you know what that’s like?”
“No.”
“Terrifying.”
“You’re afraid?”
“Can’t you tell? I thought you could smell it on me.”
“There are introductory videos,” Fiora told them. “The ones they use for children? I can—”
“No,” Levi cut her off, smiling slightly when Elm’s glare returned. “He’s synthetic. There’s no telling if he works the same way a born omega would.”
“You’re talking like I’m some kind of freak,” Elm snapped.
“A freak?” He quirked a thin brow. “Not at all. More like a miracle. A…treasure. And I don’t trust anyone with my valuables, omega. You’re a grown man. Surely the last thing you want to do is watch a sex education video meant for teenagers.”
“Actually, the last thing I want is to be here. With you.” The soothing pheromones shifted almost as soon as Elm was done speaking, turning sharper, prickling at his skin.
It didn’t hurt per se, but it was uncomfortable, made him feel like ants were crawling all over him, and he dropped his gaze and dipped his chin as much as he was able with the alpha’s hand still at his throat.
Levi seemed satisfied enough by his attempts and switched back, slipping his fingers to press against Elm’s nape when a soft sigh passed his lips.
The alpha felt like a balm against frayed nerves, and Elm shamelessly leaned into it. Into his touch and his scent, opening himself up to the comfort in a way he’d been unintentionally fighting against since he’d woken confused and confined last night.
Was this what omegas had to deal with on the regular?
This cloying, torturous sensation of wrongness? Of being off kilter? Or was this due to the fact he’d been born beta and had no prior experience to these things?
Presentation typically occurred between the ages of fifteen and twenty, so preparations began in middle school.
Elm had attended the same classes as the rest of the student body up until his proclivity had shown itself at sixteen.
Usually, they didn’t run tests until much later, like if a person still hadn’t shown any signs by twenty, because they couldn’t always get an accurate reading if the body hadn’t at least started to present.
Elm had come down with a serious fever the summer of his sixteenth year, bad enough he’d needed to be hospitalized.
Worried that it was a potential pheromone disorder and a difficult change, they’d run tests and discovered that he was a beta.
After that, he’d been removed from second gender sexual education classes, since betas biology was rather simple.
He was an adult though. Of course he had some comprehension of how the omega and alpha bodies worked, especially since he’d grown up with Sky, who was omega, and had stuck by him throughout the changes.
But knowing something in theory was proving entirely different from experiencing it personally. Every time Elm tried to apply logic to what he was going through, his mind faltered and reaction took over.
“While his confusion can be an interesting addition to our research,” Fiora’s grating voice cut through the calm Elm had finally started to gather, “his panic is a risk. He isn’t wrong. This is all new to him.”
“I’m well aware.” Levi’s thumb brushed against his pulse point again, no doubt picking up on the way Elm’s heart skipped a beat. “I’ll find out how you tick first, and then we’ll see about keeping you from exploding.”
That felt like an insult, and Elm was about to show teeth all over again, but then those pheromones pushed in harder, his eyes rolled to the back of his head in bliss, and he forgot all about snapping at the overbearing asshole alpha.