Prologue
This is it?
The small, shabby house with paint peeling off was his new home.
Mac stared at it in disbelief.
What the fuck? It looked nothing like the houses he’d seen on the viewer. Those were beautiful, with big yards and even bigger recreational areas for the omegas. But he’d come to understand said houses were in the capital, not the rural parts of their planet where poverty thrived. Even though he'd been aware of this, he'd had his hopes up. He was going to a different town, so he'd thought... Mac rubbed his face.
Poverty was nothing new to him; he grew up in it. But this...
Would it have killed them to do something about the house?
Sighing, Mac wished he could go back home. It was only five hours away in a hover shuttle. He didn’t care that they ran once a day, he’d sleep in the substation if he had to, as long as he was gone from here.
But Mac knew he couldn’t go back. Not if he wanted to be dragged back here by the authorities.
All omegas about to enter their first heat cycles must live in commune houses. The council of alphas passed the law five years ago after a massive scandal involving their previous alpha king Deltta Kohle and his assistant omega. Mac had been thirteen at the time. Back then, he hadn’t thought much of it. He’d thought the rule was ridiculous; it wouldn’t stick.
But it did stick. Worse of all, the council enforced it with an iron fist.
He hefted his packsack over his massive shoulder and walked to the door. He knocked and waited for someone...anyone to open for him. They were supposed to meet him at the substation and bring him to the house, but no one came for him. Mac hoped this was not an indication of how the house was run – because this was poor management. He was barely in the house, yet they’d broken the most important rule: alphas or betas must accompany omegas in public at all times. He’d walked from the substation, through their sleepy little town to the residential area - alone.
Fuck. Why wasn’t anyone opening the damn door?
Mac silently groaned.
He knocked again.
Suddenly, he heard two raised voices from inside, but no one came to open the door.
Are they arguing? Mac stared at the door at a loss.
A few minutes passed, and the two continued to argue.
He thought of knocking again but changed his mind. He reached for the door handle and turned it - it wasn’t locked. He pushed the door open. The voices became clear as he stepped inside. Mac came to an abrupt halt as the two rushed down the hallway.
“Shut up! Shut up! It's all your fault. You should have woken me up.” The female alpha pointed a critical finger at the beta rushing after her, carrying her footwear. “You know we are seconds away from being shut down. If they find out we left an omega stranded at the substation we are finished.”
“We? You always blame me, even though I wasn’t the one who got drunk last night. I told you drinking an entire bottle of Red Amber would get you into trouble, but you didn’t listen. You never listen to me.”
“I was dealing with some issues. Sue me.” She combed her fingers in her hair and frantically straightened her clothes.
“The council of alphas might. Should I bring you a clean shirt? I think that one has last night’s dinner on it,” the beta said softly.
The female growled.
“Okay.” He lifted his hands in surrender. He moved close and tried to make her look presentable.
Mac stared at the female’s long shirt. It had crusty red stains on it. They tried hard to clean it with their hands, but it was not working.
Was she going to go out like that?
Although Mac wasn’t much into fashion, he believed in being clean and neat. Looking at the female he wondered if the house was clean. Mac looked around the foyer and down the hallway.
From what he could see, the house was clean. But these two...Mac shook his head. He cleared his throat to get their attention since they hadn’t noticed him standing there.
He didn’t know how they missed him. He wasn’t small like other omegas.