The Unconventional Alpha

“Three o’clock,” Lester murmured as if whoever he was looking at would hear him. “She’s been checking you out.”

Greg glanced over. The strobing lights danced and bounced in the confines of the room and he had to squint to actually see across the throng of people. It didn’t help that someone opened the smoke machine. 

“Oh, she’s cute,” Mandy agreed. 

Greg finally saw their muse. Brunette, with strikingly light eyes, maybe a little younger, or not, Greg really couldn’t tell. She had her head slightly down, conscious of the crowd. Omega. 

“I came here from the comforts of my own home, as a supportive brother and this is what you do to me in return?” Greg needed not to raise his voice. His tone was naturally grunt, a characteristic common to Alphas. But both Mandy and Lester knew him too well to take it as a warning.

“Nothing wrong with coming over and talking to her. Just making friends,” Mandy shrugged casually.

“I have enough friends.” 

“Who? This one? This only?” Mandy pointed at her husband with a grimace. Lester playfully bit her finger. “I don’t count, I’m your sister and he hardly does too, you met him through me.”

“Whew, that’s depressing.”

He shot Lester a glare. The bastard simply chucked.

“I knew him even before you two got together,” he countered.

Mandy smirked at him, “You don’t know that.” 

The two had been a controversial pair. Mandy’s parents were initially against their relationship and sought Greg’s help when they eloped. 

Now, they took it upon themselves to drag him out once in a while, when his nephew was at his grandparents. Perhaps he should be more vigilant in saying ‘no’.

“When will you two give up?” 

“When you finally find your mate?”

“I doubt I’ll find them here.” He looked around the misty scenery. Across the room was the bar dimly lit with warm mood lights. The place was alive with energy—laughter and conversation bouncing off the walls, glasses clinking in celebration, and the bass of the music thrumming through the floor. Neon lights cast a colorful glow over groups of friends, their faces flushed with excitement and a little bit of booze. Then there was Greg.

“Well, then, when you find someone to take home instead of sulking alone in your apartment.”

“I don’t sulk and I don’t want to fuck around. Do I look like a casual guy to you?” 

This was exactly their plan, luring him for a night out like he wouldn’t end up third wheeling them and proposing an on-the-spot double date with whoever they thought was his type.

“You don’t want quick fun, you don’t want to find a mate, what are you even doing here?”

“I’m here because you forced me to and despite how much I despise your meddling, I do like spending time with you.”

“Look, that’s the problem with you, Gregory. What single guy likes hanging out with a married couple? That’s not how a young bachelor like you should be spending your weekends.” Lester shook his head, his expression pure disappointment. He reminded him of his grandmother and the face she made whenever she asked him when he would settle down.

“Don’t lecture me, I’m older than you.” 

“That’s another problem with you, you let us walk all over you. What kind of Alpha are you?”

Mandy was an Omega and Lester was her Beta bodyguard turned mate. Both were younger. Greg could easily tell them to leave him alone but they were family and he wasn’t ill-bred. Besides, they were simply looking after him. 

He appreciated the gesture, really, but he wasn’t one to dip his toes in the dating pool solely for release. Raised by his loving Omega mother, Greg had been told he lost many of his Alpha features including the thirst for the hunt. He liked to believe he was a romantic, just like his mother used to say. 

Contrary to popular belief, Greg did want to meet his future mate. Someone he would spend his life with, as corny as it sounded. 

“You’ll know when it’s time,” his mother had told him and so far, he hadn’t known yet. 

“Look, I’m not telling you to mark anyone tonight. Just mingle. The Gods know you need more adult friends.” Mandy patted his back.

He took a swig from his bottle of beer, drinking it to drain. “Yeah, since you two are not cutting it.” 

“Just buy the pretty girl a drink, man,” Lester said before drinking from his bottle and almost choking when Mandy hit him in the chest. “Pretty by normal standards, babe, not you standards.”

Greg laughed at their antics. 

“Fine.”

He waited for a server to pass by and instructed him to get the girl whatever she liked. It didn’t take long before the girl came over to their booth. Greg shot his companions a glare. 

“Let’s dance!” Mandy pulled her husband away, both of them giving him a thumbs up as they blended with the crowd.

“Hi, thanks for this.” The girl slid into his side of the booth. Her voice was sweet, tone cheerful. 

A distinct smell wafted around her. Greg had noticed it even before she came over—the Omega was clearly about to start her cycle. Greg’s nostrils flared as the scent assaulted him. 

“It’s nothing,” he said courteously. 

The girl extended her hand and introduced herself but that only caused her scent to spread. She was telling him something about her friend disappearing in the crowd, leaving her, and how she rarely goes to places like this so she was a bit uneasy and how nice Greg was for noticing her. 

She seemed like a nice person if not a bit mindless of her surroundings. 

Greg looked around, noticing a few sets of eyes darting in their direction. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” he cut her story off. Greg inched closer to her just to show their onlookers that she wasn’t alone.

“Sorry, what?” the girl replied, giving him a confused look. Greg feared she misinterpreted his actions. 

“You said you’re with a friend? I think you should call them and go home. This is not a safe place for you right now.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

Greg examined her for a while. The girl stared back, eyes wide and unblinking. Did she really not know? How was that possible?

“You’re pre-heat; I can smell it.” His gaze veered away as he said it Clearly, others could smell it, too, which only showed how terrible their situation was. He could feel his wolf nagging inside of him. Greg reeled it in.

“What? No, Mine just ended two days ago. I take heat control. That can’t be...” Only then did the girl seem to realize it. She brought her wrist to her nose and sniffed. Horror painted her face. Her gaze darted away from him and into the crowd, drinking in the chaos around her like a child seeing the world for the first time. 

The bar was packed. All genders and sexes littered the dance floor and filled the booths. A place like this housed a cacophony of smells, too immense to tear down. That was what the smoke machine was for. As far as Greg knew, it was infused with scent suppressants to minimize the clashing pheromones.

Did that malfunction? Perhaps the girl was simply too sensitive. 

Greg grew up with his Omega mother, so he knew well how heats work. Normally, heats happen regularly every month for three days to a week. Shorter and easier to manage if one was taking medications. However, in rare times it could be triggered by exposure to excessive amounts of Alpha pheromones.

The girl shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. This was starting to get much, much worse. Fingers fumbling for her phone, her breath came in shallow pulls. Greg could practically hear the thudding in her chest.

“I need to call my friend.”

“Do you guys live together?”

The girl shook her head. Pulling her phone out, she looked around and noticed the attention she was getting. She shivered. 

“Will you help me?” 

Greg didn’t like what that question entailed. “Yes, but only to get out of here.” It was better to be clear than to be caught in an awful misunderstanding. 

One might call him a prude to pull away from such a situation. An Omega about to go in heat, sitting right beside him, offering herself, yet he rejected her straight on. 

While the girl talked to her friend on the phone, Greg shook off his jacket. He gave it to her when her call ended. 

“Take this. It has my smell.” 

The exit was all the way across the room. Getting there would mean either crossing the dance floor or passing by the bar, both crowded. 

Greg placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, hovering closely behind her like a protective wall from the other Alphas attracted by her smell. “Stay close,” he whispered.

The girl whimpered in response. 

Ironic, coming from an Alpha, but Greg rarely had the desire to dominate. Growing up, his mother taught him to be kind and gentle. She honed his identity into someone who knew his own worth without the need to prove and flaunt it. Even with his mother gone, he kept her teachings close to his heart. 

But right now, as he escorted the girl out of the bar, Greg made sure to turn on his wolf, glaring and sneering at other Alphas and Betas that dared to come near. He gripped the girl’s shoulder firmly.

It took a whole ten minutes to safely get her out of the establishment and call a cab to take her home. Luckily, the cab driver was an Omega too. Still, he let the girl have his jacket so his smell could stick to her longer. At least until she was safely home.

“Are you sure?” The girl hesitated. 

Greg nodded at her. 

“Thank you,” she said shyly. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you. Is there a way I can make it up to you?”

“Just get home safely.” Greg smiled, respectfully declining the invitation.

The girl nodded, thanked him again, and slipped into the cab, looking dejected. 

As much as Greg wanted to help her, he had his own morals to uphold.

When he got back inside, he found his half-sister and her husband at their booth.

“Why are you here?” Mandy asked him speculatively. 

“It’s my table too.”

“We thought you left with the girl.” Lester clicked his tongue.

“Sorry to disappoint you but I merely helped her get a cab.”

He told them what happened so they knew how helpful of a person he was, but the two looked even more disappointed.

“I don’t know whether to praise your chivalry or smack you in the head,” Mandy exclaimed. “Seriously, what kind of Alpha are you?”