94z_93

Chapter 1

“Third time’s the charm,” your mother says as you get ready to leave the house that morning. Bag slung over your shoulder, green-plaid skirt swishing, and scent-blocking patches on either side of your neck, she fiddles with the matching bow tie, trying to make you look as presentable as possible. “You just have to make it through this year, and you're done with school!”

She rubs her cheek against yours, letting her soft Omega scent roll over your body—warm vanilla and lavender—a comforting smell you refuse to admit you like in front of her. Such a contrast to the strong Alpha scents that linger everywhere in the house from having three Alphas living there and a half-dozen more who visit regularly.

“Could you not, please? I don’t need some dumb Alpha thinking I’m some needy Omega.” As soon as the sentence leaves your mouth, you tense up, knowing that was the wrong thing to say in front of your mother. You can feel your stomach drop into your feet as the smell of vanilla grows stronger, almost as if it’s boiling in alcohol to make an extract.

“Are you saying the woman who birthed four Alphas and raised them mostly on her own is just ‘some needy Omega’?” Her eyebrows twitch, and behind her, you see two heads poke out from the kitchen—your twin older brothers, Sakon and Ukon. “Oh, shit” is written on their faces. You already know you'll never hear the end of how she didn’t raise you to discriminate based on secondary genders, and that Omegas are stronger than Alphas because they have to handle the fluctuating hormones that Alphas give off in their pack.

“You know that’s not what I meant, Ma–” She pulls you by your bow until your noses are nearly touching. The small height gap from your last growth spurt fizzles out as she pulls you down.

“You wouldn’t last one day as an Omega. You wouldn’t even be able to nest properly without crying into a pillow.”

“Ma, please! I need to go! First day, new school, remember?” She growls, and if you had actual wolf ears, they would be pinned back in submission. She pushes you away slightly, but the bite of her vanilla still lingers in the foyer, and you make a mental note to pick up her favorite egg sandwich from Lawson’s on the way home.

You dust off your clothes slightly, trying to straighten the small wrinkles before leaning back in and giving her cheek a once-over. Although your scent is pretty much snuffed out to even the oldest Omega in the neighborhood because of the patches, the gesture makes her relax somewhat before you turn to leave for your first day at Furin.

***

You learned early in life that you didn’t belong. As kids start presenting their second genders during puberty, they begin to group off: Alphas with Alphas, Omegas with female Betas, and male Betas can easily blend into any group dynamic. But a female Alpha? She has no group. Too aggressive to be around Omegas, too much for Betas, too weak for the Alphas. 

There’s always a challenge. Are you strong enough, fast enough? Could you control a pack when the time comes? It doesn’t matter that you come from a family full of Alphas—your brothers, your father, your cousins. All you know how to be is an Alpha. 

So you fight—every year, every school, every time they look at you like you’re a mistake. And each year you move schools in the hope of finding a place where you belong. You gave up a long time ago, though. You know the odds of finding a pack, a home, outside of your blood family are slim. It’s easier to ignore your secondary gender: scent blockers worn every day, medicine that numbs your senses—anything that makes the ache in your chest lighter.

Arriving at Furin, you’re not surprised by the lack of diversity, even after everything your brother, Kento, said he tried to do to make the transition into the new school “easy.” He said that FAM, an organization for female Alphas, had contacted many female Alphas over the last semester to get a decent amount of representation in the school. However, it seems that the majority of the school’s female population still ended up being Betas and Omegas. Not surprisingly, the best way to find a “strong” and “capable” Alpha is to go to a school that once specialized in Alphas.

Furin once was a warzone disguised as a school: all boys. All Alphas. All fists. Then came Betas, hungry for strength, then Omegas, who shattered the idea that they were only meek and docile. Now girls. All in the name of social change and progress. Or money. Silent donors over the last three years—like your family– poured in money for a brand-new medic wing for Omegas who slip into heat without warning and a scent-neutral zone meant to sedate a raging Alpha.

***

You sit in the auditorium of the school surrounded by the other entering girls, maybe twenty or so. In your section of third years, including you, there are only three people—the other two, Omegas with scents so tantalizing that you smell them through your medicine. The first and second years don’t seem any different: groups of giggling Omegas and Betas trying to posture and seem more Omega-like than they are.

“No female Alphas, just like I expected,” you mumble to yourself, sliding down in your seat.

“Hey,” one of the Omega third-years whispers. “Are you an Omega, too? You kinda smell like one, but it’s weird.” She is picking up on your mother’s scent mixed with the blockers, just like you thought someone would after her little scenting session at the house. You contemplate lying to the Omega, but it would be more trouble than necessary.

Pulling down your collar slightly, you show her the patch on your neck, and she recoils. She and the other Omegas’ faces turn up in disgust.

“Oh, you’re one of them.” It’s said like it’s something to be ashamed of—as if it’s wrong for you even to be born.

“Yeah, I’m ‘one of them.’ Someone here for an actual education and not just to find a mate to lie under,” you say, pissed. The girls look at each other, and it’s sad to think, but it's not because you said they were only there for a mate, but because you actually don’t seem to care to find a mate.

You hope for everything prayable that neither of the Omegas is in the same class as you.

When you get to your homeroom, you notice that you’re, in fact, the only female student, much to your classmates’ viewing pleasure. The place reeks of Alpha pheromones, and you’re more than sure the majority live up to Furin’s reputation of being an Alpha breeding ground for violence not too long ago. You can feel their eyes bore into your skin, analyzing—hoping—you’re an Omega.

You glance around the room, trying to size up the Alphas. There’s always one who seems to control all the others. A few catch your eyes: a tall, skinny one with long black hair, another with an orange afro. It’s the blond, though, with big brown eyes that sparkle and make your heart stop. He watches you with an excited look on his face. He probably heard the rumor of girls joining the school and hoped he’d have a pretty little Omega to flirt with.

Joke's on him.

You sit next to the blond, and he seems nice enough, if not a little fidgety. His brown eyes follow as you pull a notebook out, the pen in his hand tapping against his desk in a steady rhythm. He wants to say something. You just know it.

“What,” your voice comes out harsher than you actually mean. You’re just so used to defending yourself and your place as an Alpha that your anger comes out even when you don’t want it to.

“Oh, um, I’m Nirei. Nirei Akihiko.” He adjusts in his chair slightly to sit more toward you. “They said we were getting girls this year, but then there weren’t any the first week of classes. I thought it was a lie.”

“It wasn’t,” you say, not looking at him. He scoots a little closer, waiting to see if you say more before talking again.

“I see. You didn’t introduce your secondary gender. Is it because you haven’t presented yet or…” He trails off.

“That’s really none of your business,” you say. You have a feeling that if you let him, he would talk the class away.

“Oh, yeah. Right. Well, welcome anyway.” He pauses as if trying to decide his next words. Maybe he gives up because he stops focusing on you. He sits back in his chair, seemingly focusing on the teacher and the lesson.

It doesn’t last long, though. Halfway through the lesson, he leans over to whisper. “Do you want to have lunch with me and my… friends on the roof? It’s really nice, and there’s a garden that was started a few years ago, and–”

You cut him off with a quick, “No, thanks.” You know he’s just trying to be friendly, not the same way some Alphas do when trying to find a mate. No, he’s trying to get to know you, but you’d prefer it if he didn’t—not for him to turn around and change when he finds out your second gender.

His eyes drop slightly, his actions so reminiscent of an Omega you half expect to smell some kind of calming pheromones, but the only smell that lingers on him is a faintly pine-like scent, like he’s been rolling around on the ground of a forest. You try to make up for your snappy behavior with an explanation. “I have to go to the nurse’s office to complete paperwork on my secondary gender. Maybe next time?”

His eyes light up at that, and something about the way he nods has your heart playing a funny rhythm in your chest. You try to smile back at him, but then your nose catches the scent of something earthy and burning that has you glancing around the room. An Alpha is posturing, and it takes everything in you not to rip off your patches and growl.

Most of the students here are Alphas or were delinquents at some point. Unnecessary posturing is something you will have to get used to, even from the Betas and Omegas. If the culprit isn’t going to show his face, the best thing to do is to ignore it.

After the first half of classes are done, you begin to pack up your things, and Nirei calls out your name. “Um, do you know your way? If not, I can show you! There’s a lot of Alphas that go here, and it could be dangerous as a–”

“Nirei,” you stop him mid-thought, something you’re already getting used to. You already know where he’s going with this. You’re a rare female in a school full of guys, Alphas—it’s dangerous. “No offense, but I think I have a better chance taking on an Alpha than you, bud.”

You don’t mean for it to come out sounding condescending, but your Alpha pride doesn’t like the way he thinks you need protection. The look in his eyes hurts as he processes what you said. His size and demeanor must be a sore spot for him.

“Look, I didn’t–”

“No, don’t worry about it. I know I’m not the biggest or most intimidating, or Alpha-like, or–”

“Nirei, please.” Something in you doesn’t like the way he’s talking about himself, a protective instinct rising. Someone else must have those same instincts for him because the burning smell is back. “I just mean I’m used to Alphas. All my brothers are Alphas.”

That seems to take the edge off of him somewhat, his natural curiosity getting to him.

“Oh? How many brothers do you have?”

“Three, but I also have a lot of cousins who are Alphas. Being an Alpha is kinda my family’s thing,” you say, scratching at one of the patches on your neck. His eyes follow and widen slightly as he realizes what it is.

He knows now. He’ll hate you now. He’ll think you’re weird as a female Alpha. Useless.