Chapter 3
Grayson
Grayson had never seen so many Omegas in one place before. The little classroom had about ten people, all waiting for their crash course in male Omega pregnancy and childbirth.
“You from a small town?” a woman sitting nearby asked. “You look a little overwhelmed.” She had long, sleek brown hair and beautiful, tan skin. Her eyes were sharp and dark, but creased with faint laugh lines. Late twenties if he had to guess.
Grayson gave her a feeble smile. “You’re observant.”
“I’m Jenna,” she said, sticking out a hand. It was neatly manicured, and nearly as large as his own.
“Grayson,” he said with a quick shake. “So… is everyone here an…?”
Jenna raised a sculpted eyebrow. “Omega? Yeah. Standard humans can technically get jobs in Paeil, but most places prefer to hire us. Reduces the stress on the Mermate program, you know? You’ve got a nice scent, by the way.”
Grayson blinked, taken aback. “Oh. I’m not wearing anything.”
Jenna smothered a laugh. “No, your Omega scent. It’s like… sugar and flowers or something.”
“You can… smell me?” A small bubble of panic rose in his chest. Had people back home known?
Jenna sat back in her chair. “Damn. Must have been one small town if you don’t know that. Can you not smell me?”
Grayson took a deep breath through his nose. Now that she mentioned it, there was some kind of perfume wafting from her. It reminded him of the sparkling rosé he used to smuggle back to his dorm room in the dead of night.
“Kind of… like sweet wine?”
Jenna grinned. “So I’ve been told.”
Grayson leaned back, head spinning. “This whole time, everyone has been able to tell I’m an Omega? Because I smell like sugary flowers?”
“Well, not exactly,” Jenna reassured him.
“People might assume you wear some kind of cologne. And it sounds like the people in your town weren’t exactly in the know.
” She smacked her hand on the table, causing Grayson to nearly part ways with his skin.
“Violets! You smell like those old fashioned violet candies.”
“Is that… good?”
Before Jenna could answer, their lecturer strode into the room. He looked human, but Grayson had heard the Mer could shapeshift.
“Morning, everyone,” he said brusquely. “You’re all here because the good old US of A hasn’t bothered to add male pregnancy to the health curriculums. Lucky you.”
A few soft chuckles littered the room.
“I’m Corey, and before anyone asks, my credentials include a Bachelors in Nursing, ten years as a nurse in Paeil Miami, fondly referred to as Mermade Miami, and three kids I’ve had to evict from my body.”
“Damn,” someone said. Grayson saw a man in the corner clap a hand over his mouth.
“ ‘Damn’ is right,” Corey grumbled. “Don’t forget to take your suppressants, kids. Pheromone Overwhelm is a real thing.”
Grayson jerked his head to look at Jenna. She raised a brow.
“Pheromone Overwhelm?” he whispered.
“No one told you? Basically your body’s not used to Alpha pheromones, so just getting off the boat in Miami can trigger a heat cycle.”
Grayson blanched.
“It should be fine if you’re on suppressants,” she said quickly. “But if you get any heat symptoms, you need to visit an Omega clinic ASAP.”
“Okay folks, we have a lot to cover and not much time so sit tight and shut up.” The lights dimmed and a projector lit up the front of the classroom, depicting an anatomical drawing of a human male Omega.
Grayson stared at it. He’d never seen a diagram of his own body before, yet here it was, as if it were perfectly normal.
Corey then whipped out an honest-to-god wooden yardstick and whacked the center of the screen. “Behold: the male uterus.”
This time, even Grayson chuckled as their lecturer continued.
“Male Mer Omegas have an anatomy similar to a female human, with extra fun bits attached—yes that is the technical term— but we humans aren’t so lucky.
” The yardstick moved to the passage leading from the womb.
“In order for human males to be able to deliver babies, the rectum had to undergo a lot of changes.
As you see here, there is a sphincter which closes the passage to the uterus, and another which closes the gateway to the colon.
These openings work together to ensure the right path is open for the right activity.
“Additionally, the channel’s structure changed to allow for self-lubrication via vascular engorgement. Unlike a human vagina, however, a male Omega’s passageway only produces lubricant upon arousal or heat.”
A scribbling sound to his right pulled Grayson from his trance. Jenna was scrawling notes so fast her hand appeared blurred. He hastily opened his own notebook and began to write.
Despite the basics of Mer and human Omega anatomy being added to public school curriculums, a number of schools had rejected the changes.
Unsurprisingly, most of those schools were located in the Bible belt.
Grayson’s high school even went the extra mile to block any searches containing the words “Mer,” “alien,” “Alpha,” and “Omega.” He’d figured that out the hard way.
This pitifully short overview was his first opportunity to learn about how his own body functioned.
Judging by the passive expressions on the other faces in the room, he was the only one with such a gap in his education.
As Corey had said, male pregnancy wasn’t a required part of public school curriculums; only basic anatomy.
However, many progressive schools and healthcare programs incorporated it voluntarily.
Not Grayson’s tiny community college, of course.
When Corey finally called for a break, Grayson’s poorly padded ass was completely numb. Beside him, Jenna stretched, popping her spine on the seat back.
“Is he going to cover female Omega pregnancy too?” Grayson asked her. He stiffly hauled himself upright in an attempt to restart blood flow to his back end.
“Doubt it.” Jenna yawned. “It’s pretty much the same as standard pregnancy.”
“Is it?” He knew female Omegas experienced heat, but their anatomy remained largely unchanged after the Mer came.
Jenna raised her brows. “Didn’t you have to study Omegas for your degree?”
“Oh.” Grayson knew his skin was flushing red beneath the blanket of freckles. “I… went to a pretty small school in Georgia so the program was a little…”
“Ah.” Jenna’s mouth twisted down. “Well, female Omegas are different in some ways, but the actual pregnancy and birth is the same as any standard human. Well, ignoring the fact that Mer hybrid babies are massive.”
Grayson winced in sympathy. “Like how big are we talking here?”
“I think the average is around ten pounds?” A little dent formed between her brows. “Maybe eleven.”
Grayson couldn’t help but glance over at the front of the room, where Corey was practically shotgunning a coffee. “That is… big.”
“I hear the human staff in the Mermades make bets on weight based on the Alpha.” Jenna grinned. “Not that the job needs any spicing up.” Paeil may have been the correct name for the Mer’s global network of islands, but Mermades was the name that stuck.
A sharp crack made everyone in the room jump. Corey waggled his yardstick at them. “Playtime’s over, park it.”
∞∞∞
Beyond the walls of Grayson’s tiny room, the ocean rasped its gentle roar across the sand. He was exhausted after his frantic escape from Mineral Bluff, then a long day of lectures and note-taking, but his brain simply refused to shut off.
He’d seen photos of the Mer and of the violet foliage of the Mermade islands, but he couldn’t seem to picture himself there. It probably wouldn’t feel real until he set foot on the silvery sands that formed Paeil’s beaches.
For the hundredth time that night, Grayson’s phone screen spilled blue light over his face.
He’d snuck off to the nearest phone store and signed himself up on the cheapest plan he could manage.
His new number was the final safeguard he’d needed against his family.
Now, he could use his phone to stare, enraptured, at the photos of his new apartment.
An expansive main space with a sprawling kitchen, open living room, and an entire wall of windows that overlooked the sea. One bedroom, complete with a king-sized bed, and a beautifully furnished bathroom. He couldn’t wait to put the enormous tub to good use.
An apartment like this one would have been incomprehensible to him on the mainland.
Only people who pulled in six figures could swing this kind of accommodation.
But as an Omega moving to the Mermades, it was completely free.
Grayson was starting to wonder why more people weren’t signing up for Paeil’s many Omega work programs. Incredible housing, high salary, European levels of paid vacation…
His stomach clenched. Realistically, the work programs were designed to bring human Omegas and Mer Alphas together, so they could settle down and start churning out hybrid offspring. Of course it wasn’t mandatory, but the societal expectation lingered.
When Grayson finally drifted off, his dreams filled his mind with rounded bellies and finned babies.
It felt like only a few minutes later that a rap on the door startled him awake. “Grayson? It’s Destiny. Your boat will be arriving in thirty minutes! If you pack up quick, there’s a continental breakfast out in the lobby.”
“Thank you,” Grayson rasped. As her heels clicked away from the door, Grayson slumped back against the pillow. He’d forgotten where he was. The sound of someone at his door always triggered a spike of adrenaline.
Grayson drew in a slow breath. That’s never going to happen again.
He got up once his heart returned to its usual rhythm, and gathered up his meager possessions in the pale pink light of dawn.
When he arrived at the breakfast buffet, he was expecting a little table of muffins, toast, and cereal.
Instead, he came face to face with three enormous tables, laden with breakfasts from around the world.
There were cured meats, eggs, and bread, but there was also soup, rice, and fish.
Grayson’s appetite awoke with a vengeance.
He piled a plate high with bits of everything. Not a single frog leg to be found.
“Hungry?” Jenna’s voice came from behind him.
Grayson set his plate down at a table and turned to smile at her. “Let’s just say food options are limited in small-town Georgia.”
Jenna’s silky hair was already slipping free of its claw clip. She was wearing a pair of linen drawstring pants, and a cropped, turquoise t-shirt. Grayson’s denim-clad legs were envious.
“Fair enough.” She smirked. “Mind if I sit with you?”
“Not at all!”
She tossed her phone onto the table and sauntered off to get her own plate. Grayson still spoke to some of his old college friends now and then. But something about Mineral Bluff cut people off from the world.
A warm, fuzzy glow implanted itself in Grayson’s stomach as Jenna dropped into the seat across from him and took an anaconda-like bite of an English muffin.
“Whi’ lini’ you goi’ oo?”
Grayson choked on his coffee. “ Sorry, what?” He’d forgotten how good it felt to laugh like this.
Jenna rolled her eyes and swallowed. “Which clinic are you going to?”
“Brighid’s Well Midwifery,” he answered, still chuckling.
“No way, me too!” Jenna stuck out her hand for a high-five. “We’re gonna be coworkers!”
Grayson’s palm stung slightly. “That’s a relief. At least I’ll know someone there.”
Jenna grinned and dove back into her breakfast. Grayson’s gaze flickered to the sun sparkling on the waves just beyond the window at his side.
Today, his life would finally begin.