Omega (Alpha & Omega #1)

{Chapter Eighteen}

Cayson drove home, thank God. He wasn't as bad of a lead foot as his brother, even though I was aware we were still going over the speed limit.

The heat on my face finally went away after a while, but came back whenever one of them looked at me a certain way. I knew it wasn't an illness, but I could pretend it was for a while. The mating bond was becoming stronger. I wanted to be with them. Near them. I wanted them to want to be with me.

When we got back to the house, Keon turned in his seat. He looked as if he was going to say something, but the look on my face stopped him.

I didn't want to feel like it was some obligation to be with them. If I was actually going to mate with them, I wanted to want to be with them without the mating bond screaming at me to let them mark me. I didn't believe in love. To me, it was some made up thing people thought of to throw into books and movies to make people think it's a real thing. Love, unconditional or otherwise, was a fairytale.

And yet, I wanted to love them before I mated with them. What did that say about me? I wanted something fake? Fiction?

What about them? They bought me. For what?

I looked at the two of them, both turned around in their seats.

"Are you two going to get out," I asked.

They shared a glance before they slid out of the car. Keon slid the front seat forward and I got out. They carried my bags into the house, but once we got in the door, both of them froze.

Mia was the first one I saw. She had her head bowed and she looked terrible, like she'd been beaten. Her eyes were red like she had been crying and there was a bruise beginning to appear on her cheek.

She raised her head and looked at me. "You need to go, Phoenix. Before she-"

I heard heels clicking against the floor and Mia flinched at the sound. Before I could see the woman, Keon stepped in front of me, blocking my view of her and her view of me.

"Son." The woman's voice was rich and distinguished. The one word from her lips was enough to make the omega in me cower. She was the true meaning of an alpha female.
Female alphas were rare. So rare. And yet...

"Mother." The word from Keon's lips was like a whip. He didn't much care for her, it seemed.

"I smell the thing you're hiding," she said.

Thing?

I looked at Mia. She was staring at her feet, trembling slightly.

Did this bitch hit her?

I stepped out from behind Keon to get a good look at her. The moment her gray eyes met with mine, my entire body went cold.

She didn't hold in her essence as an alpha like most did. She let every single person in eye sight feel her presence.

She had the same colorless hair that Keon did, slightly lighter skin, and she wore a skintight red dress that left nothing to the imagination. Normally, I'd be disgusted that a forty-something year old was wearing something like that...but her? She made it work.

I wanted to cower, but I'd cowered enough from alphas.

I took a step towards her and Keon grabbed my wrist so fast that I stumbled. He pulled me back to him and wrapped an arm around me protectively.

"Cute that you'd protect that," she said, her eyes trailing every inch of me. "And yet you do nothing for your other slaves."

Cayson growled.

"Always a pleasure to see you, Cayson." She didn't even bother looking at him. "Even though looking at you reminds me of that whore."

I pulled away from Keon and walked over to Mia. I raised her head and studied her face. One bruise on her left cheek, right at the corner of her lip. It was swelling.

"You need to get ice on that," I whispered. "Go on."

Her eyes flicked to the woman at my back.

"Forget her." I waved my free hand. "Go take care of that before it gets worse."

She gave me a small smile before turning and hurrying off.

"Phoenix Artemis Rose."

I turned my face so that I could see the woman from the corner of my eye.

"You know," she was facing me, ignoring her son and Cayson completely, "when I heard Keon and Cayson found their mate, I was actually rather happy. And it was you. The alpha child of Stephan and Marie. "

"I'm not an alpha," I said.

She spit out a laugh. "I can tell."

I turned slowly to face her. She was not my mother, nor was she my father. I had nothing to prove to her. But then, why was I so fucking terrified?

She rolled her eyes and looked at her son. "I refuse to allow this."

"Good thing you're not a part of my life, or my decisions." Keon raised his head. "You were also not invited into our home. So I suggest you leave."

Cayson hummed his agreement.

"She's our mate," he continued. "If you have a problem with that, which you so obviously do, the door is right behind us."

She laughed again and looked at me. "You're not worth their time, little omega."

"You're not worth the shit on your shoe." I didn't mean to say it. Truly, I didn't. It fell out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it, just like she slapped her hand across my face before I could think of a way to apologize.

Green eyes flashed bright and Keon and Cayson were on either side of her, grabbing her wrists hard enough to crack bone. Although I knew it hurt, she kept a straight face, her gleaming gray eyes boring into me. Words not spoken filled her eyes and I could read it perfectly.

Little omega bitch.

You think you're so great.

Fucking die.

I'd heard it all before. Seen all the expressions of alphas and betas who hated my kind and who hated me. It wasn't new. But it hurt all the same, so much worse than the burn in my cheek.

"An alpha prone to violence is no alpha at all," Keon spit at his mother.

Side by side, I saw all the similarities. Beautiful, beautiful similarities.

She rolled her eyes again and stepped away. She looked me over one more time before turning on her heel and marching to the door.

When the door slammed behind her, the glow behind Keon and Cayson's eyes died and they turned to me, studying my reddening cheek.

"I'm fine." I pushed their hands away.

Keon's eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Phoenix-"

"Don't." I stepped away. "I'll be in my room."

When I was halfway up the stairs, I heard something break. Then a curse. And I didn't turn back once.

She came to put me in my place. And put me in my place she did. The moment I started allowing myself to feel around them, was the exact moment she came crashing in to ruin it. Maybe it was for the best. I'd be treated like that for the rest of my life, whether I was mated to them or not. There'd always be a large majority of alphas and betas that despised omegas walking the earth. Feeling loved, or wanting to feel loved, was not in the books for an omega.

Especially for one like me.

°°°°°

A/N: There's a point to all this, I promise. Don't hurt me lol