Chapter 3

“What’s done is done at this point, nerd. Might as well enjoy the stroll,” was all the response Azrin got. With an audible sigh, the omega relented, dropping his hands from the alpha’s back and quickly stepping from behind to walk at the other male’s side. For a moment, everything was quiet and deceptively peaceful. Azrin couldn’t stand it.

“So, have anyone on your mind?” The omega questioned. He quickly glanced at the alpha’s face to see if he could glean anything from a possible nonverbal reaction. Nothing.

“What’s it to you, nerd?” Lexus questioned back instead of answering, taking a moment to side-eye the Brunet. Both males always seemed to be calculating their next move in each other’s presence. It would be exhausting if it weren’t so stimulating for the omega in every sense of the word.

Azrin was the one to break eye contact. He decided to look straight ahead before answering the ash blonde. “Just curious. You’ve never mentioned anyone, so I thought I’d ask,” He shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. He tried hiding the pain in his heart by diverting his gaze. His mother had told him so many times that his eyes were like windows to his soul, and right now, he couldn’t afford to bare everything to the alpha.

“If I haven’t named anyone, then you fucking know the answer, Rin. Stop being a dumbass,” Lexus admonished. There was no break in his stride or fluctuation in his voice. The male was so damn hard to read, and the omega couldn’t stop himself from trying to push.

“You should pick a female Lex. Tonight’s the best selection you’re going to get. Might as well take advantage,” The omega wanted to smack himself. Every word coming out of his mouth right now was absolute bull.

“Oh? Where the fuck is this coming from?” Came the male’s reply. It was gravelly and squeezed through closed lips by the sound of it. The omega would bet his first bite he was getting a nasty glare right about now.

“You know where. This is your one chance at an untouched, and everyone knows how you feel about seconds. If you don’t want anyone, fine. If this is about me, don’t. I’m sure I’ll have my first heat within the next year or so, and then I’ll be sen-,”

“No. Mom will never let that fucking happen,” Lexus interrupted. It irritated Azrin to no end when the alpha pulled this crap.

“Lex, I’m a male omega. It’s standard practi-,”

“You think I don’t know you’re a male? I just fucking watched you strip. Who the fuck cares about that-”

“Damn you! Stop interrupting me! I’m useless to you and your family, that’s why, you ass,” Azrin was seething. Lexus always had to get the last word even when Azrin tried to be considerate.

“Don’t talk about yourself like that. Mom would lose her shit if she heard you,” Lex stopped walking and grabbed the omega by the wrist. He forced them both to an abrupt stop. Azrin had had enough, and before he thought about what he was saying, bitter words poured from his mouth.

“Isn’t that what Rin means, Lexus? Useless. Is that not the nickname you gave me years ago? Useless male omega? Those were your exact words, were they not?” He regretted it as soon as his brain registered what he had just said to the alpha. Unfortunately, it was too late. What had been said couldn’t be unsaid.

A hand slapped over his mouth, the pinpricks of clawed fingers pressing into the skin of his face as he looked into glowing scarlet eyes. “Shut your fucking mouth. Do not say another word. Do you fucking hear me? If I hear anything from you before we arrive at the venue, I will fucking do something we both will live to fucking regret. Do not test me, Azrin,” The alpha’s face was twisted into a feral snarl. His fangs had elongated with his rage as they glistened in the moonlight.

 His voice was a deadly calm that had the hairs on the back of the omega’s neck upended as gooseflesh bloomed across his skin. Azrin lowered his eyes, and he would have borne his throat had the hand on his face not been holding him still in a vice-like grip. A barely discernable nod would have to suffice, as that was all the Brunet could manage at the moment.  

Lexus released him, spun around, and resumed his trek at a brisque pace. The alpha spared no glance at the distressed omega he had left in the wake of his fury. Once the blonde was a good six feet in front of him, Azrin resumed walking, though much slower.

He had done this to himself. For once, Azrin could say with one hundred percent certainty that Lexus was not to blame for what had transpired between them. Guilt wracked the omega. His nickname hadn’t held the cruel connotation of their childhood for years. Lexus had even offered to stop using it altogether, but the Brunet had wholeheartedly refused. The first two years after the omega had moved into the main house had been arduous. Even though the omega had always adored the alpha, the reverse had never been confirmed. Lexus may not hate him anymore, but it seemed a strained friendship at best on the alpha’s end most days.

Azrin could feel a keen at the back of his throat, his omega threatening to call out to the alpha and beg for forgiveness. To stop the sound from leaking out, he pulled his lower lip between his teeth and bit down harshly. One of his fangs punctured the soft flesh, and instantly Azrin was licking at the laceration, trying to heal it before the alpha caught the scent of blood.

Apparently, he hadn’t been fast enough as Lexus turned around and leveled him with a narrowed gaze before stalking over, his lips were pulled tight in a grimace. How the alpha had even smelled him from that far away and downwind floored the young omega. Azrin stopped in his tracks as he felt his body tense with the urge to flee from the enraged male. His omega wouldn’t let him. Forced by his dynamic to weather the alpha’s rage, Azrin bared his throat in submission and focused his eyes on his bare feet, unwilling to challenge Lexus- again.

“Why now? There are so many instances where I’m being a fucking asshole, and I expect it from you. Fucking deserve it, and you don’t. Not even a hint of it, so why? Why here and why now?” Lexus’s voice was gentle, along with the finger that swiped across the underside of his now healed lip.

Because I’m scared. Because yours is the only opinion that matters. Because if I had been female, I might have stood a chance. Because it hurts that you’ll never look at me the way I look at you. Because I’m going to lose you soon, and I can’t handle it. Because I love you, even though I know you’ll never love me.

All things Azrin could never bring himself to say and knew better than to do so. His eyes began to water at the thought, and Azrin had never been more grateful that Lexus had not lined his lower lids. For a good minute, the omega stayed silent. Lex had told him not to speak after all, and while he wasn’t sure what irreparable thing the alpha was threatening. Tonight, was not the night to bait the male about it. A forceful “Answer me” was all the omega needed to do just that.

“You know how these events stress me out, and when you do that, it screws with my head. I can’t help but wonder if you still see me that way,” He wasn’t lying, but by the low growl, Lex wasn’t completely fooled. Azrin expected the alpha to press him. Instead, he gave reassurance with both his words and a rumbling croon.

“I do not think you are useless. I have no qualms with your sex Azrin. I was an entitled little prick, saying cruel things without understanding the damage I was inflicting,” Lexus dragged Azrin’s chin up so that the omega would meet his eyes. “Now, I’m an asshole, and I know exactly what I’m saying and the consequences of my bullshit. I have not said those words to you in a very long time, and I won’t repeat them,” That gleam in Lexus’s eyes was back, and even without the alpha breaking eye contact, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it meant.

“Ok, Lex,” the omega acquiesced. He subconsciously began to scrape his chin's underside into the male’s hand. He didn’t know why he was doing it or why it felt like something he should do. Omegan instincts were strange sometimes.

“Come on, no more tears, or your mom is going to tear me a new asshole,” The statement and the sinful smirk on Lex’s face startled a laugh out of Azrin. Lexus placed himself at Azrin’s side and waited for the omega to start walking before falling into step with him. An alpha following an omega’s lead, blasphemy.

This time the omega didn’t disturb the comfortable silence they found themselves in. They weren’t that far from the town’s center anyways, as the dim glowing lights came into view, announcing to everyone there was an event taking place even if they were not invited.

Upon reaching the entrance, Azrin attempted to step behind the alpha, as that was proper etiquette. Lex was having none of it as he placed a hand on the omega’s lower back and kept him at his side. Azrin felt his eyes go wide as he gaped up at the alpha.