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𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑨𝑰𝑹 𝑾𝑨𝑺 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑪𝑲 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒌𝒚, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒇.

The soft rustling of the leaves above us was the only sound competing with the occasional hum of the cicadas.

I was absorbed in my book. The pages of Kafka's Metamorphosis turning slowly under my fingers. The story of Gregor Samsa's transformation resonated with me, though his tragic fate was a harsh reminder of how fleeting life could be. I was in the middle of reading the same sentence again when his voice broke through my thoughts.

"What are you?" he asked, his words a soft tease, but I could hear the curiosity in them. His grey eyes were half-lidded as he stretched out against the grass, letting the sun catch the tips of his pink hair in a halo. It made him seem impossibly beautiful, more so than any person had any right to be.

"Alpha," I said, my voice quiet, almost nonchalant as I looked up from the book. My fingers lingered on the page as I tried to focus, but the image of Gregor Samsa—his body locked in a form he could not escape—kept nagging at the back of my mind. I felt the same, confined in a place I didn't fully belong, but I couldn't explain it to Valik, nor could I explain it to myself.

He didn't respond right away. The silence stretched between us, warm and thick like the summer air. His gaze was now distant, not quite focused on anything, and I wondered if he was lost in thought.

"You?" I asked, my voice soft, almost a challenge, though I didn't intend it that way. I didn't want to look at him, not yet. I didn't want to see the smug expression I knew would be on his face.

Valik and I had been practicing English together for two months, and while I could feel myself improving, I hated how easily he seemed to master everything that came his way. He was older. He was superior. And I hated how much it bothered me.

"Beta," he said, his voice slow and deliberate. It was a word with a strange weight, as though he were offering a secret, he knew I wouldn't fully understand. He stretched his legs out in front of him, letting the coolness of the grass seep into his skin. He looked too comfortable. Too at ease. Like a person who knew they were in control of the world around them. I envied that.

Beta. The word lingered in the air between us like a challenge. It made my stomach tighten. I wasn't sure why it stung so much.

Maybe it was because, all my life, I'd been told that alphas belonged with omegas—that it was fate, instinct, an unspoken law of nature. So, in my mind, my partner, wherever they were, would undoubtedly be an omega too. Not a beta. It couldn't be this beta.

"You don't seem alpha enough," he added suddenly, his voice light but sharp, the words cutting through the stillness. "You're too scrawny. Too weak."

I could feel the heat rush to my face, the flush of anger that made my hands tremble slightly. "Well, what should a stupid alpha look like?" I spat, trying to mask my discomfort with defiance.

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he raised an eyebrow, his gaze flicking to me with an unreadable expression. "Tall. Handsome," he said, his voice a little teasing, but underneath it, there was something else. Something I couldn't quite place.