Corinthians

Love is Patient

The words were indelible in Ed's memory in spite of himself. His grandma placed them on the wall opposite the toilet where he had nothing else to look at every time he went. She'd learned the lesson too late, she said, and wanted to make sure he knew better.

Now, as he tasted blood where the first alpha to reach him carelessly knocked him aside to defend his position, the words traced their way through his mind yet again. "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, love is not rude, is not selfish, it can not be easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." He reached for the panic button on his collar and pressed it. The school nurse would be here with a suppressant injection before the fight ended and an alpha tried to actually claim him. Undoubtedly the admin team was already running to break up the fight.

Lust shuddered though his body, along with literal heat as his temperature climbed and his face flushed red. He fought to remain in control of himself as his ass grew damp and his mouth watered.

This insanity, this fight for dominance and need to claim and possess, this wasn't love. It was pheromones, and his were the worst, omega pheromones. The collars weren't mandatory for omegas, but they were provided by the government as they approached puberty, and once placed they couldn't be removed except by the government officiant at a wedding where both parties expressed unreserved consent. It leveled the playing field for omegas...somewhat. Alphas were forced to take responsibility for the one they marked and couldn't carelessly make that bond with multiple omegas and leave them unable to copulate with anyone else for the rest of their lives as was his grandmothers experience. Once marked/bonded, an omega would experience tremendous pain if they tried to have sex with anyone besides their mate, and not inconsiderable discomfort just being apart from them. At the trial it was discovered that his intent was to turn natures new breeders into dead ends.

The alpha who'd bit her nape, and ruined her for any other, came back only once, when she gave birth to his alpha daughter. He took the child and she never saw her daughter again, until the girl, grown and gorgeous as expected, dumped a little omega boy on her doorstep, blaming her omega mother's genes for her messy divorce. Two alphas seldom gave birth to an omega, but it was possible, and for an alpha raised exclusively around alphas and taught to value nothing else, it was an embarrassment of monumental proportions. Once rid of the boy, his mother vanished again into her world of perfection attained through dominance.

He was most fortunately left to be raised in a world of happiness attained through love. All the love his grandmother couldn't lavish on her own child she lavished on her grandchild. The laws protecting omegas were only beginning to get traction when she found herself marked and alone, physically bonded to an alpha who abandoned her. She went to work as an office assistant for a beta lawyer dedicated to the cause and therein found both provision and purpose. He found five other unfortunate omegas marked and abandoned by the same alpha and told their story far and wide, garnering sympathy among the beta majority for laws that required alphas to take responsibility for every omega they marked. Alas, not retroactively, but she made enough in his employment to establish herself comfortably and raise her grandson. Which leads us back to the present, with Ed smack on his ass in the high school quad with a bloody lip and a pair of angry alphas duking it out.

Why only a pair? He realized it was odd only seconds before realizing the cause. The first alpha to reach him was Zane, the most dominant alpha on campus. The crappiest of crappy luck. He had every class but one with Zane so he was bound to be nearby. Only one challenger arose. He looked to see who the idiot was and realized it was his childhood friend, Soren. Damn, this wasn't just pheromones. Soren was about to take a massive beating to protect his friend. This was love, of a sort. Soren hadn't spoken more than two words at a time to him since he put his collar on. Before that they were the same, two friends who hung out and made fun of girls together, as twelve year olds do. After...well, it seemed that Soren took it as a sort of wall between them. They couldn't really be friends anymore. If he approached he'd be seen as a possible boyfriend, and that wasn't the sort of love they had for each other. It was this kind. The kind that always protects, and never demands. Even years later.

Ed rose to join the fray. It was pointless. He was already hurt and going into heat, which was what caused the fracas in the first place. But he had to try. He still loved Soren in the same sort of way. He'd protect his friend at any cost. Before he could get off the ground he felt the jab of the suppressant injection in his leg as the nurse arrived on the scene, needle first. "Oh no you don't. Sit your ass back down and let it take effect." He demanded. "Admin is already here."

Sure enough, when Ed looked up he saw three adult men holding Zane back as he practically foamed at the mouth and a fourth with his hand gripping Soren's bulging bicep. When had Soren grown biceps like that? One guy couldn't be holding him back if he was going into rut, so it was as Ed supposed, Soren wasn't competing for the omega, he was protecting his friend. Other staff were dispersing the crowd as quickly as possible lest another alpha going into rut spot an opportunity in the dominant alphas removal.

All eyes were watching Zane in case he broke loose. He wouldn't be punished for responding to an omegas heat, it was only natural, but he'd be watched carefully for a while. Once it got in an alphas primitive brain, the scent of an omega they'd publicly claimed, as he'd just done by taking up a protective posture, lingered like a disease. It took a good while to be free of it. Worry distracted them from the other alpha on scene. With a sudden movement Soren broke free of the admin's grip and swooped in to pick Ed up off the ground before anyone could stop him.

"I'm taking him to the Health Office," he announced and headed off before anyone could stop him. The nurse quickly followed behind and waved at an admin to follow at a distance. The omega wasn't fighting this alpha and didn't look scared, only startled. And the alpha seemed to be in control of himself.

The suppressants started working before Soren picked him up, but the alpha's touch launched a fresh wave of Ed's pheromones and he couldn't control his reaction. His arms reached up around Soren's neck and he held on with all his might rubbing his head and face in the crook of the alphas neck where his scent was strongest. "Damn," Soren muttered, undoubtedly feeling the accompanying wave of omega pheromones hit him. He kicked his way into the Health Office and dropped Ed on a cot like a hot potato.

"Sorry," they both gasped out at once. That's when the nurse walked in and saw two bright red faces looking anywhere but at each other. The suppressants were starting to gain the upper hand again as Soren kept his distance. "I didn't want to leave you out there exposed. I knew picking you up was a bad idea but waiting for you to walk was a bad idea too," Soren expounded on his apology.

Ed was writhing on the cot, his body craving the touch of an alpha now, any alpha.

"Alright, alpha out!" The nurse demanded. Soren looked at him with pleading puppy dog eyes but he knew his business. "Get out while you still can. I don't have time to fight you. You're setting each other off right now and distance is the only solution."

"I'm sorry," Ed gasped out toward the retreating back of his erstwhile hero. "I wasn't expecting this heat. I'm sorry you had to defend me."

Soren turned at the door and looked back at Ed, "never apologize for that."

"Then, thank you," Ed whispered, to the already empty doorway.

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