Page 19 of His Stolen Omega

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Come on.” He turned and looked at Levi, and realized he was telling the truth. “Seriously?”

“Does it look like I’m the type of person who enjoys theme park rides?”

“I don’t know,” Elm said. “I can see you putting someone on the tracks of a roller coaster and having them run over.”

Levi tipped his head, clearly considering, and Elm felt sick.

“No, stop. I was kidding.” He tried to think of some other way to explain the feeling, but opted to move on instead. “My skin felt too tight pretty quickly, and like it was tearing, even though I kept looking and it was fine.”

“Nerve endings false firing,” Levi surmised.

“The abdominal cramping didn’t come right away. Neither did…”

“The erection?”

“My ass was abnormally wet first,” he stated.

“Don’t be embarrassed. It’s a waste of energy. I’ve already seen all of you.”

“Don’t remind me, you pervert.”

“What was it like?” Levi continued, ignoring the jab. “Producing slick when you never have before?”

“Wrong.” He licked his cracked lips. “Horrifying.”

Enlightening.

Elm kept that part to himself.

“Ruts are like a complete and total loss of control,” Levi didn’t sound pleased by that fact at all, “Was it similar with your heat? You appeared rather out of it.”

“I can’t remember most of it,” he answered. “Just pieces. And the feeling. Yeah, it was like that too. Like my mind was floating above my body, and I could sometimes comprehend what was happening and what I needed, but I didn’t fully understand it. I couldn’t stop it.”

“And as a beta?”

“Nothing like that.”

“Explain.”

“Betas are like most people in the universe. We get horny randomly, have sex when we can find someone who wants to do it with us, and that’s that. We don’t have to worry about heats or ruts or inhibitors. Pheromones aren’t a thing on our radar.” Elm sighed. “We’re nothing special.”

The alpha was quiet for a long moment, to the point Elm thought maybe he’d gotten bored and wanted to end the conversation, but then he surprised him by speaking.

“You aren’t beta anymore, Elm Erskine.” Levi flashed another one of those absolutely terrifying smiles. “Welcome to the life of exceptionalism.”

Chapter 4:

“Stop.” Elm bared teeth, but the alpha on the opposite side of the bars remained unphased.

Unlike the one at his side, who bristled.

“Push harder, Levi,” the Butcher of the White Frost, who’d introduced herself as Fiora, said from behind the gas mask she was wearing. Didn’t seem like it was doing much.

“The mask keeps you from scenting me,” Elm snapped, “but pheromones can still seep into pores. Even I know that, and I’m beta.”

Fiora was holding an arm band, clearly trying to take his heartbeat. It wasn’t invasive, and yet Elm felt some type of way about her presence and nearness.