CHAPTER 1

TOMMY 

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It was already a great way to start my morning, waking up with a sharp ache in my ass that let me know I have done something unspeakable last night. Something like bottoming for the very first time in my very respectable Alpha life. Worse, I couldn't even remember the bastard.

And then this.

“Mr. Rivers.” The doctor’s eyes were still glued to the scan result in his hands. “The result shows you’re…developing omega traits.”

I stared at him. Surely that was a punchline.

My brows knitted forming the sharpest V in my entire twenty-seven years of living.

“Developing omega parts?” I repeated, my voice flatter than the pulse of a dead man. “What does that even mean?”

Like he was regretting the life choices that brought him here—maybe it was I who did, the doctor shifted. “There’s a small formation just above your gall bladder. It looks like a uterus—it’s not fully formed. Also, your pheromone readings lack the density found even in a  recessive Alpha…”

For a solid five seconds, I didn’t speak. Then it rippled through me—a ragged, deep laugh, the kind of laugh you do at an unfunny stand-up show because you already bought the ticket and now you’re trying to squeeze out your money’s worth. 

“I’m still waiting, you know, for when you say gotcha. It’s just a joke,” I said, finally breaking the aching silence.

He adjusted his glasses perched on his nose. “I know this is unexpected,” he said carefully. 

“Yeah, who would expect an Alpha male—not an omega man or a woman—an Alpha to have a uterus?”

I don’t remember standing. I just found myself massaging my temples, pacing back and forth as the white walls of the office closed in on me. 

The doctor launched into theories about faulty scans and hormonal anomalies. But none of that mattered as all I could think was how fast tabloids would devour it: Billionaire son secretly an omega. How quickly my father would disown me, he already hated me for being a Recessive Alpha, and now I’m turning into an Omega—the lowest of the low. 

My father’s face slithered into my mind—that constant frown of disapproval, the same one from the day he found out I was recessive, the day I fell to second place. Now it felt like I was about to fall straight out of his grace.

My stomach turned and I almost threw up. Fuck I should have thrown up.

“You may want to get checked at another hospital or another lab.”

My eyes sliced to him. “Yeah, thanks for the advice. I might as well tell the whole world Tom Rivers is about to become an omega.”

The doctor exhaled, but his voice was still clinical. “I’ll do more research about it.”

“Do that.” I arranged my suit and headed for the door, I stopped and glanced over my shoulder. “One more thing, don’t tell my father about this.”

As he nodded, I left.

Recessive Alphas like me were tolerated—not in the business world though. While Dominant Alphas were nature’s best creatures, they topped everywhere. Omegas were nothing but bodies meant for only pleasure. If the world even found out I was becoming one, my reputation, my business, I would lose it all.

Out in the corridor, I told Mason—my Beta PA—to find me an underground doctor, one I could pay for his silence.

On our way back to the office, my mind kept circling back to last night. I could remember myself giving consent, I could remember how he had bent me over. But still, I couldn’t remember anything about him.  

When I woke up this morning, there was no lingering scent of pheromones, just soap,  perfume, and a pain that dragged me to the hospital.

He had scraped every trace of himself off me like a killer wiping evidence off a crime scene.

 Did this stranger do this to me? Turning me into an omega?

My hand balled into a fist. God, if I catch that bastard, I’ll ruin his life. 

While I was wondering what sin I committed to earn this divine punishment, the radio cut through.

“…joining us today is Gerard Vance, CEO of Vance Pharmaceuticals.”

It’s been years, yet this guy’s name still rang in my ears, sharp and bitter. Gerard’s voice and the doctor’s news, all in one day, fuck, I wished I were deaf—preferably yesterday morning, before I handed my ass to another man.

“Change it,” I gritted.

“…and today he unveils a breakthrough—a drug capable of turning Alpha into omegas.” The radio buzzed.

A shiver tore down my spine and my body lurched forward. “Wait.”

Gerard’s voice oozed from the radio. “People wondered why I had made such a drug. That’s because I believed in love. But society still frowns on Alpha and Alpha relationships. My drug helps one partner present as an omega, removing the social barrier.”

My stomach twisted in the ugliest of ways as a memory hit me. Gerard had made a promise in high school that he’d turn me into an omega.

I turned to Mason. “Drive to Vance Pharmaceuticals now,” I barked, my jaw locking.

Mason glanced back. “You have a meeting with the board…”

My eyes narrowed.  “If I don’t fix this, do you think I’ll be able to attend any board meeting?”

Mason made a U-turn and drove towards Gerard’s company.

My brain did the maths. An unknown partner. Suspicious clean scent. Gerard and a drug that turns into an omega.

The chill in my bones intensified, it was as though I was locked in a freezer.

I needed to know if he was the stranger I fucked last night. I had to know if this state could be reversed. Gerard should have these answers and if he didn’t…Well, I might just end up on the evening news as a murderer. And my father would prefer that than be outed as a recessive Alpha let alone an omega.

My heart thudded and I barely noticed the tall buildings that blurred by as we drove through the streets of California or when we arrived at the underground car park . Or when I walked through the reception filled with people.

I wondered how I was going to find him, but I guess the heavens didn’t hate me completely. There was my answer, Gerard Vance. Jet black hair, his height dwarfing the other people around him.

Years later, and I still couldn't beat his handsomeness or height—Annoying prick. My lips twitched.

And then those annoying green eyes of his collided with mine, a slant smile forming on his face like he had been waiting for me.

My lungs tightened so hard I wondered how I was still breathing.