Elara
“I want him,” I whined, stomping into my bedroom.
Not even the comfort of my own nest could ease the need to return to Glamorous Gems to see if Mr. Coco was still there with his clan. I cursed myself for being too enthralled by his scent not to work up the courage to ask him why he was on the station—and for whom. I should’ve been bold enough to request his presence before me tomorrow.
After all, who was mad enough to refuse an invitation to stand on The Den floor?
There were no love marks upon his visible skin. No trace of a foreign scent or resistance of my touch from him.
“It’s your nearing heat talking.” Quinn scoffed. “You don’t want him. You just want what promises his scent brings to you. Once you enter The Den tomorrow, you will be overwhelmed by the number of aromas that call to you, that Mr. Coco would be just a blip in the grand scheme of things.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Sighing, I fell backward onto my nest and sank into its layers of cushions with a thump. There was nothing like being surrounded by comfort, cradling me with warmth as the feeling of security washed over me.
Something about the whole time in the jewelry store didn’t feel right. Not even the sanctuary from my quarters could ease the ache in my chest.
Reaching over, I grabbed the nearest pillow and pulled it to me, instantly wrapping my arms around its circular softness. Then, glancing over to my wide window, I watched the vastness of space, wishing I could be anywhere but here.
My skin felt itchy—and the lack of companionship was finally getting to me.
I didn’t have an alpha or a pack to call my own. Instead, I was being tended to by a gamma who could never fulfill the void within my heart.
Quinn was a temporary foundation to keep me grounded until my time to pick a pack came. And now that I was ready for The Den, her pull on me was dimming. That was probably why her scent hadn’t calmed me like it used to. She needed to cover my nose with her wrist to override the draw Mr. Coco had on me.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Elara.” She sounded tired as if she were begging for an answer. “We have everything you need for tomorrow. The only thing we need to do is to make sure you have a good night’s rest for the meeting with the Matron early in the morning. Then we will wait in our assigned suite at The Den until you are called to the arena around midday. What happens next is up to you. So tell me, what do I need to do to brighten your evening before your big day?”
“Tell me Mr. Coco will be there,” I muttered, forcing myself not to get my hopes up. “I need to know whether I should prepare myself to be disappointed or not.”
“Are you that fixated on him that you are willing to miss out on other perfectly eligible alphas?”
“His scent isn’t the only thing I am attracted to,” I explained, rolling around to my stomach and kicking my boots off as I faced her. Swaying my feet in the air, I hugged my pillow and watched my gamma stare at me with pursed lips and a calculating gaze. “There was something about the way he stood up against Owen and hadn’t backed away from my touch. With his own credits, he took the time to make sure I was all right and that my time at the shop wasn’t ruined. How could I not be attracted to a kind alpha like that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with what he did,” Quinn said, tilting her head to the side as she walked over to my nest. Then, stopping right before my pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, she took in a deep breath and shook her head. “Are you sure you want me to look up the list of alphas registered for your arena and tell you if he’s on it?”
“Yes, please.” I nodded, biting the bottom of my lip in excitement. “Let me know if he’s on the general list or just mine.”
“Fine.” Quinn huffed as she grabbed her tablet from her belt and pressed her hand onto its screen, unlocking the device. “Don’t be upset if his name doesn’t come up.”
“It has to,” I mumbled. Then, returning my gaze to the vast space just outside my window, I took in a quick breath and prayed to whatever almighty deity that was popular these days. “Why else would he be here?”
“Not every visiting alpha is here for a chance at The Den,” Quinn pointed out as her calming scent thickened in the air, covering me like one of my own blankets. “Some are here for business, trading, or managing their taxes. He could’ve been here to pay his sponsor dues, being an alpha co-owning a business.”
“Is that how this station gets funded?” I asked, watching space traffic fly by my window. With their high-tech designs smoothly zigging and zagging by the bulky cargo vessels with precision, sleek merchant ships appeared like a child toying with their parents. The older cargo vessels could easily dock multiple merchant ships, yet their size made them appear lesser. I would bet the owners of the cargo vessels were equivalent or perhaps even more wealthy than those who decided to show off with their merchant ships.
Most alphas loved showing how wealthy they were to their peers by buying fancy things like ships, seasonal houses, clothing, and jewelry. This made some of the few lucky betas who were successful business people want to do the same in hopes to prove that they could be on the same level as alphas, regardless of their class gender.
I was unfortunate enough to come across a few of them over the years. They tended to splurge on unnecessary items while making a show out of it. While some omegas were impressed by their display, I thought it was gaudy. Why would anyone waste credits on superficial things when they would never be an alpha in the end? Furthermore, there was a clear division between each class gender that could not be altered no matter how many suppressants or hormones a person took.
It was something scientists hadn’t been able to change—and due to our past, most were resistant to it. Most people didn’t want history to repeat itself, allowing alphas to take the first omega they came across and make them their own before claiming an army of betas beneath them. The universe was already in a fragile balance as it was, as society started to settle into our new structure. I wouldn’t want to experience an uprising if something went wrong.
Who would resist a super alpha? Or a super omega?
Gammas would probably still be able to, but there were only as many of them as the current alphas and omegas combined. So they wouldn’t be able to protect all the betas that were most of the population.
It would be up to them to be able to kill whoever tried to tilt the scales.
“Unfortunately, it seems I was right,” Quinn announced, instantly drawing my attention to her. The frown on her face was enough to crush my hope for tomorrow. “Mr. Coco isn’t on either your roster or the universal one.” She pressed a few buttons on her screen, and her brows shot up. “But it seems your mystery man has been approved eligible to enter The Den. He just hasn’t registered himself.”
