"Stop running!"

I was able to run a few more yards before the Alpha command set in. Even then, I speed-walked across the track, partially limping from where I fell on my hip after having slipped on one of the bleachers earlier.

I had lost one of my shoes, so my sock was getting all muddy and wet. It hadn't stopped raining, but I could still feel the burn of concealed UV rays on my exposed skin.

"Stop. Moving." came another low growl of an Alpha command.

My steps slowed to an enforced stop. As a Beta, I could delay an Alpha command or bend it if it wasn't phrased properly. But, in the end, I had to submit to it.

Nestor was being nastier than usual that evening. The team had lost the game. He had bruises in odd places. And, for some reason, Ashur was all for inciting him even further…more so than usual.

I could tell that Nestor just wanted an outlet. Ashur, on the other hand, enjoyed seeing me like this.

The two of them had commanded me to wear a cheerleader's uniform and then forced me to run up and down the bleachers in the pouring rain. After that first painful fall, I realized that I had to find a way to escape. But, they went and chased after me.

"Please," I pleaded, feeling exhausted by that point. "Please, just let me go…"

A sadistic smile formed on Ashur's lovely face. Such gorgeous looks were wasted on an asshole like him. "Hear that, Nes? He wants to run off. Should we let him?"

"No." The tone of Nestor's voice was concerning. It lacked any emotion. He reached out one of his thick, muscled arms, it was to roughly clutch the front of my cheerleader top, lifting me almost a foot off the ground.

"Nestor..." I tried once again, but he slammed me down into the ground so hard that my world erupted in pain. I was a Sophomore. I had barely turned 15. But, it wasn't until that day that I realized just how fragile my body could be.

Later on, I had been told that my ribs had been broken in the process. "Wh-why…" I wheezed, finding it excruciating to breathe as I gazed up at the husky's emotionless face.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" another voice called out just as I began to black out.

::::

I gasped loudly as I sat up in bed, my chest heaving as my racing heart finally began to settle down. As I took deep breaths and raked both my hands through my hair, I was absolutely certain of one thing.

My Faceless Bus Stalker was most definitely not Nestor or Ashur. Though the voice that I heard before blacking out was muffled in my memory, it had a similar ring to the sound of FBS's voice.

Could that have been him?

It had to be him, right?

As I took another shaky breath, I reached for my phone. I'd just about had it with all the secrecy. If he was serious about this, he needed to show me. I stared at the time. 6AM. I had set the alarm for later in order to try to sleep in. So much for that. I sent FBS a text.

::::

Pick me the fuck up.>

<…is everything ok?

Pick me up and show yourself. I'm done with these hiding games.>

…

::::

I could tell there was a moment where he was typing and erasing, typing and erasing some more. In a fit of frustration, I beat him to the punch.

::::

Lexus!>

::::

Complete and utter silence.

::::

Lexus. You're Lexus, aren't you?>

Just pick me up. We need to talk.>

::::

Another moment of silence, and then…

::::

Yes. Alright, I will.

I felt my heart skip a beat when I read those words. He didn't deny it. He didn't even deny it. FBS was Lexus. My Faceless Bus Stalker Alpha…was Lexus.

My mind was blown as emotion after emotion fought for dominance inside me.

Relief…despite all of the Alphas that caused me hell during high school, Lexus hadn't been one of them. The blue German Shepherd had transferred in halfway into his Senior year and was part of the same team as Nestor and Ashur, but he never participated in their treatment of me and would break it up whenever things got too far.

Regret…Lexus had been the one to call the ambulance that night that Nestor nearly broke me. I had been so sick and so scared of Nestor and Ashur that just seeing him in the same uniform as them caused me to reflexively push him away after he had spent hours waiting for me to wake up in the hospital bed. Had I been less frightened, we might have become friends.

Anger…he knew better than anyone else how I hated to be commanded to do anything and yet that was the first thing he did when we crossed paths again!

Fear…this was really happening. I was an Omega. An Alpha was legitimately claiming me. I was someone's partner; someone's future mate.

And yet, the fact that it was Lexus didn't disgust me. In fact, it intrigued me. In spite of everything, I really wanted to take a good look at him. I wanted to see how he had grown and changed both physically and mentally.

A part of me still wanted to punch him in the face. Another part of me wanted to kiss the daylights out of him.

As I got ready that morning, I thought of a compromise.

::::

An hour later, I was all but shoving Morgan out of the door of our shared apartment. He had a class that started at the crack of dawn, so he took a different bus to get to his class on time. The whole time we were eating breakfast, he knew that I was hatching something and wanted to stick around to see it. But, he finally relented when I promised to give him the details later.

I was already standing in front of the door when a royal blue Toyota Prius pulled up in the parking space right in front of me. Lexus didn't say a word as he stepped out of the car and walked towards me. He looked about as nervous as I felt, though he wore it much better.

He hadn't grown any taller than when I last saw him, but he was still quite tall at about 6 feet (183cm). He had put on a bit more muscle than when he was in high school, without a doubt. His skin tone was as olive-hued as I remembered. His face and jawline seemed to have changed a bit. He looked older, more mature. His black hair was in a spiky, modern undercut. But, it was his eyes that drew me in. A cerulean blue around the pupils and outer ring of the iris, but a powder blue on the inside.

I took a sharp inhale of breath and then closed the distance between us, tugging him down into a vicious kiss. His tongue was as decadent as a piece of dark chocolate melting in your mouth. I didn't allow him any control of the kiss. And, as I pulled away, I bit his lower lip sharply and then slapped him hard enough to sting on his right butt cheek.

"Whoa-Ow!" He hissed as he rubbed his backside.

"Be grateful that it wasn't a punch to the face," I taunted. If he hadn't faced me like he just did, I would have definitely punched him. "Consider it retribution for all of your previous antics."

"Are we even now, then?" He asked, still slightly rubbing his bottom.

"Yeah, we can call it even," I responded cheekily as I opened the passenger side of the car and sat down. "For now."

I expected the Alpha to slip into the driver's side so we could go to class, but he opened my door. Before I could ask him what he was doing, he ducked down to kiss me. That time, I let him have his way. The kiss was slow, soft, and sensual. Unlike the punishing kiss I had given him earlier, the kiss he gave me made me feel dizzy with need.

"Lex," I gasped when he pulled away. I didn't recognize the sound of my voice. But, by the heat that flashed briefly in his eyes, I knew that it had really affected him.

When he got into the driver's side, my inner canine was all but whimpering at me to go hump the first pillow I could find, preferably the one we usually kept hidden away in our room for that very purpose. I kept my gaze fixated out the window to try to push that feeling down. How ironic that, when I finally had the freedom to gaze openly at Lexus, I chose to avoid looking at him.

Thanks a-fucking-lot, Omega hormones.

(a/n: Below are some examples of Lexus. I state a formal disclaimer of the reference of the blue German Shepherd.)