CHAPTER TWO

ASAI

Charlotte, my mother’s herald, was waiting for me as soon as I stepped out of the car, without even giving me a chance to take off my shoes, she pulled me into the house, dragging me after her like I was still a child. “Young Master, I have been trying to reach you for the better part of the day.” She hissed, her eyes flashing behind her glasses. “Your mother has been furious all day, why would you keep such a secret from her?!”

I sighed in frustration, yanking my arm out of her grip and heading in the direction of my room instead. “She's just going to have to calm down. I'm doing all these for her as well. The most she can do is have a little patience.”

“Young Master!” She called, agasht, but I was not in the mood for anyone at the moment so I ignored her cries and stormed up the stairs to my room. The house was very large, and empty, so Charlotte’s voice echoed on the ceiling as she called my name. I slammed the door to my room shut and collapsed against it.

Despite the cool air in the room, I found I was sweating. Panic set in, was I going into heat? I wasn’t supposed to until a couple more weeks. Still, I rushed to my bathroom, and shook out the drug cabinet until I got to my suppressants. It was almost empty. I made a mental note to request for another batch as I threw the last three pills into my mouth. I stood by the sink long after the pills had gone down my stomach, heaving large breaths as I tried to regain my composure. The entire incident with Kao Mori was still playing on repeat in my head and despite everything, the omega in me was rattled by his sheer alpha dominance. How was I going to pull off the engagement with him constantly breathing down my neck. It would only be a matter of time before I slipped up, and then everything would be for nothing.

With my hands still shaking, I pulled off the bulky suit revealing my true body. I winced at the sight of myself in the mirror, noting how I’d only gotten paler in the past few months. Like most omegas, I was slim, although I was taller than most of my secondary sex, I had the perfect omega physique. With slim limbs, less muscle tone, and a small tapered waist that flared out slightly to the curve of my hips. Omegas were born to breed pups, and so it was pretty obvious in our physique. I spent so much time pretending to be an alpha that I got whiplash whenever I saw my actual body.

I had no idea who my omega parent was, but it didn’t even matter, because I was a carbon copy of my mother. We had the same bright blue eyes, and pale blonde hair, unlike most omegas, I wore my hair shorter for obvious reasons, but sometimes I’d look at other omegas with their flowing long hair and crave for what could have been. I’d been hiding my true nature my whole life, for the sake of my mother, and our family business. Omegas couldn’t inherit any kind of property, and so the company and everything my Mother owned would have gone to my oldest cousin Marcus, he was a gambling sleazebag who would have run the company to the ground and left Mother and I with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We couldn’t afford to let that happen, so Mother had done what she could, and I was forced into this pretense for our sake.

I leaned closer to the mirror as I peeled off the band aid covering my scent gland and frowned at the inflamed skin around it. Kao’s pheromones must have aggravated it, that was probably why I was having heat symptoms, my stupid omega body must have reacted to the pheromones of a strong virile alpha and decided it was a fit time to mate.

Utterly disgusting.

I was changing into casual house clothes when the door to my bedroom slammed open and Mother stormed in, looking more pissed than I expected. She stood tall and proud, despite her age, her hair was severely short, and was greying at the temples. We had the same face, my features were just softer, almost effeminate, the face of an omega.

“You’ve grown wings, boy.” she growled, storming into the room while glaring at me. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Marrying into the Mori family? Are you trying to get us killed?”

“If I don’t do this, we’ll be dead by the end of the year anyway.” I shot back, folding my arms across my chest. “I’m doing my part to keep the company afloat. That’s what you’ve always asked of me.”

“That’s insane.” She scoffed, “The only thing I’ve ever demanded from you was pretend that you were an alpha, and all you had to do was take some suppressors and cut your hair. I never asked you to marry into the most powerful alpha family in the country. What do you think will happen to us when they discover this deception.”

“Nothing Mother, because they won’t.” I sunk down to the bed, suddenly tired, I turned my gaze to her, pleading silently. “Please just let me do this for us. This is the only way. We need financial support, and this alliance is the best option for us. Sakiko likes me, and I like her enough. This union could work, Mother. For all of us.”

“You say that, but what about when it’s time to consummate?” She growled, stepping closer. “Or when the family demands heirs? Two omegas cannot make an heir, Asai. What then? What lie are you going to cook up?”

I winced, because I knew she was right. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Mother. Besides, Sakiko is the second youngest. No one will demand heirs from her so quickly. Not when their eldest is still without a mate.” At the mention of Kao, my body gave an involuntary shiver, but I pushed that to the back of my mind. “So, please Mother. Say I have your support. I can’t do this without you.”

Mother frowned as she mulled this over in her head, but even she knew there was really no choice in the matter. We had to do this. Finally, she sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Fine. But if this goes sideways, Asai, we’re going to be in big trouble.”

“Thank you for the support. I promise everything will go fine.”

“So,” she drawled, already moving to another subject. “When do I get to meet this Sakiko girl?”

“Tommorow.” I winced. “I promised that we’d both be at their house for dinner. Consider it a formal introduction.” The thought of seeing Kao again filled me with a shiver I couldn’t name — fear, or something far more dangerous.