Understudy [ABO] [MxF] [18+]

T E N

When Allegra returned to uni the following week, she could tell right away that people were beginning to suspect she was hiding something. Eyes followed her everywhere, and the whispers in the lecture halls weren't that hard to pick up on. Although some people seemed to still think she was genuinely just sick, there were a number of rumours beginning to go around about her being an Omega. It didn't take much these days for people to suspect someone was secretly an Omega, and after the incident at the bar the other week, it really wasn't surprising rumours had already begun to spread around.

"They should just mind their own business," Morgan grumbled as they changed buildings for their next lecture. "Who cares anyway? You're still the same as you were before."

Ally tried to smile, but her stomach was feeling uneasy. "I don't care, don't worry. Things will settle down when people get something new to talk about."

They had just rounded the corner to enter the new building when Ally spotted a familiar figure waiting near the doorway and froze. Morgan took a few more steps before realising as well and turned to look at Ally.

"Want me to chase him off?"

Ally though for a moment before shaking her head, "No, it's fine. We need to talk. You can go ahead, alright? I'll be in soon."

Morgan looked at her with a face that said she wanted to argue, but after a moment simply sighed and went into the building - but not without glaring sharply at Maxim beforehand.

"Sorry I didn't reply to your text," Ally said as casually as she could manage when she approached him, trying to ignore the way her heart raced as she caught his scent. "We, uh, need to talk I guess. Do you have time before class?"

"Yeah," Maxim replied and cleared his throat, then gestured to a seat under a tree a little way off. "Should we go sit?"

She followed him over to the bench seat and sat down at one end, leaving a decent space between them as he sat at yhe other. She fiddled with her bag for a minute, trying to think of what exactly she wanted to say, but came up empty. She didn't know where to begin. The date? His feelings? Her status? None of them seemed to be the right place to start and---

"Are you feeling better?" Maxim's voice was gentle, and when she looked up at his face, she suddenly felt her nerves vanish. "You were in... uh, heat, right? I hear that they can be really uncomfortable for people who don't get their first one until they're older."

Ally felt her cheeks go warm and looked away again, "I'm better now, thank you. It wasn't quite my first one, but well, yeah. I only found out that I'm... not what I thought I was about two months ago. It's a bit complicated. Stupid genetics being weird," she tried to laugh to lighten the mood, but when she looked back to him, his eyes were still serious.

"The man you left with... he was, uh, very protective of you. Is he your...?"

"No!" She said louder than necessary, and her cheeks burned. "No, he's my doctor. I couldn't get in contact with Gabe so I panicked and called him, since he said I could for emergencies. He's an Omega specialist and get very protective of all his patients in situations like that. I mean, being a club and all, it wasn't very safe."

Maxim sighed with relief, and some of that edge in his eyes faded. "Ah okay, sure. Did he take you back to one of those heat safe clinics?"

"He took me to a safe place and helped ease the severity of my heat, yeah," Ally replied, dancing around the truth. "Then Gabe came and picked me up and I spent the rest of the heat hiding away at home, yet again. I'll be seeing a doctor this week about getting special suppressants that suit my hormones so I should be able to live relatively normally again soon."