9- Should Have Fucked Him

I should have fucked him.

“Why are they staring so much?” Ael’s voice was groggier in the mornings. Rougher.

I hadn’t noticed how severe it was until he appeared at my room door the next morning saying he’d left his bike in the alleyway and needed a drive to his club.

Of course, I drove him instead to school. “My entire face is roughened up because of you. It has never happened. Plus, I usually walk alone. It’s rare to see someone by my side.”

“Why?”

I looked at him.

He still hadn’t collected his vest from me nor had he mentioned it because Cheon-as ‘Ael’ Kim had decided to act like what happened last night was all my imagination.

I hated it. “I don’t exactly enjoy being spoken to—”

“Neven!” The preppy female voice caught me off guard. I turned to look at them, noticing the horde of omega women standing in front of me. “Oh my god, are you okay? And who’s—” they all looked to my side, every one of them shaking and cowering. “W-Who’s this? Is— is he the reason you’re hurt?”

Usually, I would have enabled them.

But aside from the fact that Ael was barely speaking or acknowledging last night, his Omega scent had vanished. It was back to the same intense, bewitching Alpha scent that made me want to shove him into my body and growl at all of them to fuck off.

Plus, with his piercings, all black attire and tall and muscular body, he looked like everything these Omegas would want.

I smiled, stepping in between them. “He’s my stepbrother. He just came from… Abroad. He’s a little shy so he’d prefer us being alone for a little bit, is that okay?”

Cassie with her cross necklace and blond hair stepped forward, her eyes darting towards him. “Are you sure he’s not hurting you? We… we heard yesterday you couldn’t practice because you were hurt. We know you’re really nice so you probably won’t—”

“Nice?” Ael cut in.

The girls moved back slightly, their scents spiking with fear. Cassie's hand went to her cross necklace, fingers wrapping around it like a lifeline.

Ael's eyes swept over them with cold disinterest. “You think he's nice?”

Stop giving them more attention than me.

“Girls.” My voice came out harder than I expected. “Let’s meet later. I’ll explain everything then.”

Cassie opened her mouth like she wanted to argue, but one look at Ael’s expression and she nodded quickly, tugging the others away. Their whispers started before they were even out of earshot.

“Did you see his eyes?”

“He’s huge—”

“Neven’s stepbrother? Since when—”

I waited until they disappeared around the corner before turning to Ael. “I have a reputation.”

“Seems so. They don’t know who you really are.”

“No.” That side is reserved for only you. “Now that you’re in a talkative mode, are you going to tell me why you’re in school beside me? I don’t mind you following me around but if the session was that good—”

He grabbed my collar, his face strewn with irritation. All of this on school property. With people watching.

What drugs could someone take to stop themselves from getting sporadically hard because of their attractive stepbrother?

“It took a lot to bring you back here.” I said, keeping my voice focused. “You need to behave—”

“You brought it up.” He cut in, hissing. “I’m fucking fine, now, aren’t I? I’m back to being an Alpha so I didn’t need your help anyway.”

“But you're here. Right now. With me.” A professor could come soon. With how bruised I look and how he does, they’d naturally assume he’s the troublemaker. “Or are you worried you might go into heat again without me being there—?”

His hand moved to hit me but before he could, a voice yelled from the sidelines. “Hey. Stop right there.”

“You’re the one who brought me here,” Ael murmured quietly. “I told you to take me to the club.”

“It’s not safe there. You’re safest here. In school.”

With me.

His grip on my collar tightened, his dark eyes glistening. “I’m safe with you when you make fun of me?”

Fun of you?

Marcus, a Beta professor appeared, red-faced with his books close to his chest. “Are you okay, Neven?”

Stay away from our family.

Ael released my collar like it had burned him. The shift was instant— his shoulders dropped, his expression smoothed into something flat and unreadable. The same mask he wore at dinner. The same emptiness he'd shown his father.

I hated it.

“I was just leaving. This place is still as stuffy as I remember it.” He said quietly, turned around and walked away.

The eyes around us followed him, some still lingering on me.

Every cell in my body told me to go after him.

It would look wrong. Me chasing after someone like him especially with how I look. I would appear indebted to him or subservient. It would cause more eyes to follow me more than necessary. And I couldn’t afford it.

Why did he think he could leave me like this?

Was it because I still let him use his legs?

Was it stupid of me not to fuck him and made sure he stayed as an Omega?

“Neven. Your face—”

“My stepbrother has been having a hard time adjusting.” I had a rule of not speaking to professors unless absolutely necessary. I couldn’t get too close to anyone before they, like Eimi, got too curious and dug into things that weren’t their business.

But for some reason, I was angry.

And angry me was not safe. “You teach ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY & SECONDARY GENDER STUDIES 204: Omega Differentiation and Social Integration, yes?”

Marcus blinked, clearly thrown by the shift in conversation. His grip on his books tightened. “I—yes, but Neven, your face. We should get you to the infirmary. There’s protocol for—”

I hit myself in the face.

Pain erupted through my like lightning.

Marcus stumbled back, his books scattering to the floor. A few students who'd lingered to watch the drama gasped. My cheek throbbed where Ael's earlier bruise had barely started healing, and now I'd added fresh damage on top of it. “Neven—what are you—”

“I’ve been pressured about the council meetings, games and classes so I’ve been doing this. Hitting myself.” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, smearing blood as I looked at him. “So there's no protocol. No report. No investigation into my stepbrother. He already has a hard time as it is.”

Marcus's face cycled through confusion and horror.

I bent down, gathering his scattered books. The people staring were whispering but I could handle it. Stress was the highest cause of death of Alpha suicidal. He’d buy it. “Could you… help me, professor? Take me to the clinic while you tell me about this. It’s something I’m very interested in and would like to understand.”

Marcus's hands were shaking as he took the books from me. “Neven, this is— we need to talk about what just happened. You can't just—”

“Please.” I let my voice crack, just slightly with my shoulders curve inward. Students seeing me with a professor after hitting myself and everything else will assume I’m unwell which keeps my reputation in check. “I don't want anyone to know. My father would... he'd be so disappointed. I'm supposed to be better than this.”

Marcus's expression crumpled into something soft. “Of course, Neven. Let's get you cleaned up. We can talk in my office. Privately.”

Perfect.

I’ll deal with my stray, later.