Omega Quarters

Alex had a mate? Like a real one? She was right in front of me.

“I’ll be right there, Leiah,” Alex said through clenched teeth.

My face must have looked as red as a tomato. Leiah slammed the door shut, making me jump. She ground her teeth, eyes focused on me. Out of fear, I couldn’t rip my eyes from her. Then I had to when it felt like a train hit my head. Alex’s hand appeared on my back, stopping me from falling.

“Hey, don’t do that.” Alex stepped in front of me.

Leiah laughed, but I couldn’t see how cynical it looked because Alex blocked my entire view.

“You really give two shits about an omega?” Leiah spat.

Alex turned to stare at me. What was with the pity in his eyes?

“She’s an… oh yeah.”

“It isn’t that bad,” I said, confidently, maybe too confidently.

Leiah laughed, “I can assure you it isn’t a good thing. You’re an omega that’s in a shit load of trouble.”

“No, she isn’t,” Alex said.

“She interrupted an alpha meeting! An important one.”

“We weren’t getting anywhere anyways.” Alex leaned on the wall and smirked at me.

He hadn’t changed.

Leiah put her hand on her hip. Early signs that we wouldn’t be best of friends.

“Well?” Leiah said.

“What now, Leiah?” Alex groaned.

“Aren’t you going to punish her?”

“Punish me?” I gawked at Alex.

“I’m not going to punish her. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I swear, Alex if you don’t, I will. Omegas need to know their place.”

Alex folded his arms. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

My eyes went wide. “Are you going to…”

“Gabbie, every time you see me, you’ll address me as your Highness. That’ll be your punishment for the next two months.”

My mouth hung open for a second before I burst into laughter.

“Do you want me to bow as well?”

He snickered. “That’ll be a nice touch.”

“What?!” Leiah blasted. Killing my laughter almost entirely.  “This is serious, Alex!” What was she going to do, cry?

“Trust me, this will be torture for her.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled. This is what he’d been wanting since we were kids. Leiah balled her hands into fists and stomped back into the meeting room. Alex grabbed my elbow and turned me toward the stairs.

“Let’s get out of here before she comes back with someone else.” He mumbled.

Going back up five hundred stairs. Torture. “When did you get a mate?” I asked.

Something I had fantasized about, but when I didn’t get a wolf like all the other kids, I was kind of pushed aside. I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same thing here unless someone takes pity on me and doesn’t let me spend the rest of my days serving the pack alone. Alex was totally out of this equation. Alphas didn’t go for omegas.

“I-uh, I chose her in my third year.”

“Wow, that long, huh?”

He nodded, a smile playing on his lips. He’d been in a relationship for two years? He must really be into her.

“I waited for you… to come. I guess your first shift came super late.” He chuckled.

“No, Alex. I didn’t shift.”

He paused. “What? How is that possible? How are you here?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Now what? Was he mad I was here?

“Because the pack doesn’t have enough omegas.”

He ran a hand through his dark chocolate hair. “You’re not human I can smell you’re not. You don’t have a wolf?”

I nodded and shrugged.

His eyes narrowed, and his expression went dark. “I can get you out of here. You shouldn’t be here, Gabbie.”

“Why? You don’t want me here?”

He continued walking. “It isn’t that. It would have been easier if you had a wolf even a weak one can help in most situations. This place is dangerous. I don’t want to lose my head worrying about you, Gabbie. Things work differently here than in the packs.”

I placed my hand on my waist. “You don’t have to worry. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Sucks for you because you’re going to get one.”

“Not happening.”

His hands gripped my waist and pulled me close, squishing my hands on his chest. Definitely new. He tilted his head.

“You got more beautiful, but you sure as hell didn’t get less stubborn.”

I wiggled out of his hold before he saw me blush and swatted him.

“Come on,” he said.

By the time we came to the end of the stairs, I was panting, and Alex hadn’t even slouched once. He laughed at me.

“Give it a few weeks, you’ll be in shape.”

“I thought I was in shape! The problem is with the school that has five hundred steps.”

“Wait till you see the tower.”

I didn’t want to go near the tower.

“Gabbie…” Blair stood and hurried to me. She slowed when she saw Alex.

“Alpha.” She bowed her head.

I shook my head a little. Was this how things worked here? Even Blair conformed? I couldn’t look at him anymore. I didn’t know why. This was how we treated his father. I guess I thought that because we were friends, these things wouldn’t apply to us. I was dead wrong. I moved to stand by Blair. I would need a moment to let this all sink in.

“Blair, would you mind showing her around? Keep her out of trouble as much as you can. I know Gabbie’s a handful.”

Blair bowed her head again.

“Hey.”

He smiled. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sure.” He turned and left us.

“Well… good to see you’re still alive.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m just… a little tired.”  

“Come on.”

For the rest of the day, Blair showed me around. I wouldn’t say she was a totally different person, there were still signs of the old, crabby Blair. She was just a little beaten down. It stung, really.

We started heading away from the castle and the three other buildings towards the grounds. I got my stuff from the room I’d spent the night in. All the omegas walked with us downhill to the omega quarters.

“Why are the omega quarters so far?”

Emery bounced alongside Blair, who was startled and glared at her.

“You can thank the Sanders pack for that.” She replied.

“I thought they grew out of their whole hatred for the omegas centuries ago?”

“To the outside world. Most of them still can’t stand us.” Blair said.

“We’re only relevant when needed. Just how it is.” Emery said.

I was convinced she couldn’t walk at a normal pace. She was miles ahead of us within seconds. The Omega quarters came into view. It wasn’t a castle like everything else. Not even a run-down one. It was a single-story building, stretching through the landscape. A couple of houses were spread out close to the trees that spread out into a dense forest.

I clutched my bag. “This is my home for the next few years.”