Along with Marcus and Hunter, Aosh had one other friend. 

Her name was o0DSweety0o, or Daniella as he came to learn. They first met during a dungeon crawl on one of the few MMORPG’s that Aosh played. Since being a solo player he often got matched up with random players to explore dungeons; and of that particular group he played with she stuck out to him the most.

She played an archer like he did, and was leagues ahead of him in skill. After saving his ass multiple times the Alpha decided to privately message her some in-game currency and a word of thanks, and the two haven’t stopped talking for almost a year now.They have now since switched from talking in game to talking through a text app; Aosh had never asked why she didn’t want to give him her phone number, he assumed she had her reasons.

Daniella was an Omega, an Omega who had found her fated mate no less. Immediately Aosh felt a connection to her, even if he did not learn her sub-gender until later on, the two were alike in a lot of ways. Aosh had confided to her a lot of things, including his dream to find his fated mate as well; she was supportive and listened. It was only natural that Aosh would send her a message as well to tell her the good news.

When the Alpha hadn’t received responses from Hunter, Marcus, or Daniella that weekend he was worried, but that wasn’t anything new for Aosh. However with what happened between Marcus and him on Monday, everything made sense.

He met the two Betas at the same time so naturally they were already friends. It was also plain to see that Hunter followed Marcus like a puppy. Thinking back on it, Aosh couldn’t remember a single time that Hunter had spoken against the other or done anything without sticking to Marcus’ side like glue. It made sense then, in retrospect, why neither of them answered. Aosh deduced that Marcus must’ve told him not to; it was Daniella that Aosh was more worried about.

It went without saying that Aosh would be cutting ties with Marcus, and Hunter by association,but it made no sense why Daniella wasn’t answering. The two talked on a daily basis consistently, whether it was about one another’s feelings or a quick message to let the other know to have a good day.

Aosh tried not to be pushy with her. She had a life outside of him and a mate as well. Aosh knew there were boundaries he couldn’t cross if he wanted to keep this friendship with her; she was the only friend he had left. Now with all the frustration from his fated mate being assaulted, by his best friend no less, he found himself being unable to cope with his emotions without an outlet to vent.

Aosh called into work after the incident happened and reserved himself to sit at home and basically sulk in a stew of anger, frustration, and sadness. In his pity party he resolved to still go to ballet class the next day; playing on the slim chance that Tiza would be there. For the rest of the week he wouldn’t see Tiza, his brother taught the class in his stead; and was not subtle at all with his disdain that the Alpha was still in his class.

The two never said a word to each other though, the most contact they had was Aosh proactively avoiding Sean’s piercing glare. By Thursday Aosh left the class wondering if he would see Tiza again, but couldn’t bring himself to ask Sean once more; knowing the answer he’d get wouldn’t be a pleasant one and frankly the Alpha was still sore from his last fight. He wasn’t looking to get beat up again.

Tiza laid in his bed, curled up under a heavy fleece comforter in an effort to keep warm;although he looked the farthest from being cold from the light sheen of sweat across his flushed face. He cursed that fucking Beta that had the nerve to assault him, and in his own office no less. It wasn’t until the Omega got to work that he unexpectedly felt his heat approaching, so Tiza rushed to the office he shared with his brother to take his heat suppressants. Not long after he found the medication and pulled it out from the desk drawer did an unexpected visitor enter the office.

His heat came faster than he expected and the Beta noticed, even though Betas were not affected by the pheromones that Alphas and Omegas released when they went into their mating cycles, they could still smell them. When he was manhandled he dropped the pill bottle and watched in horror as the semi opened container fell to the floor, spilling its contents every which way. He would have cussed out the asshole about it if there wasn’t a hand over his mouth shutting him up; those pills were expensive!

Without the heat suppressants, things started to become fuzzy fast. The Omega’s body began to react to the one above him, his body flushed red hot from the need to mate and the anger that boiled just under the surface. The Beta above him was inadequate though, his body could tell; it was no Alpha.

Through the fog in his mind, Tiza could tell when the door opened a second time that an Alpha had appeared; his senses heightened due to the heat. A minuscule amount of Alpha pheromones, musky yet floral, were being released in the presence of an Omega going into heat. Tiza could feel his body react positively to the new presence in the room and deep in his mind he was repulsed with himself.

The Omega fought to keep a clear head and in a state of panic, scrambled to leave the dangerous situation when the Alpha dragged the Beta off of him. Tiza remembers little after that other than his instincts screaming at him to go back and bed that Alpha and him running into his brother and telling him through broken speech what had happened. The next thing he remembered was being in his bed; Sean’s wife standing over him, wiping a cool rag over his heated face.

That was two days ago and he was feeling better since then, if only a little bit. He’d been confined to his room, not having enough energy to leave it besides going to the bathroom. The Omega’s body burned with the need to be mated, his ovaries ached with pains that shot up his abdomen, and it felt like he had a constant fever; but this was nothing new to Tiza. It would most likely be over by the time the weekend rolled around; hopefully he could return to work by Monday to continue teaching. It was unfair that he had only taught one class before this all happened.

As he laid in bed on the edge of sleep his mind wandered back to the moment the Alpha saved him. He could vaguely remember that it was the only Alpha that had signed up for his beginner ballet course. His lips pursed into a frown. To be saved by an Alpha, he was sure that was the reason for this uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, he reasoned with himself as his mind drifted to sleep once more.

Aosh tried to focus but it really was impossible. Silently he wished to be anywhere but behind this cash register right now. The Sunday morning rush at the local farmers market he worked at had drained all his energy. Usually he put away orders, helped set up displays or even got down and dirty and tended to the vegetable garden or the other miscellaneous plants that weren’t ready to be sold. His managers told him, however, to stay at the register today as they had a new hire they needed to train to do the grunt work he usually did.

Aosh just hoped that he wouldn’t be put here permanently. It’s not because he wasn’t a people person, he was very friendly and approachable after people got past the tattoos and piercings, but after the morning rush it really was boring as hell. Time dragged until it was time for him to clock out, which was still a few more hours from now.

  It was a clear day and the mid-afternoon sun showed it’s rays through the trees that surrounded the outdoor marketplace. Customers were littered about filling hand baskets with fresh produce and inspecting plants of varying varieties. Aosh resigned himself to people watching until a customer came up to the counter to check out. Sensing the presence of someone and hearing the soft thud of a hand basket being set on the wooden counter he turned around.

Sparkling veridian eyes met his dark obsidian ones. Aosh froze on the spot seeing Tiza standing in the check out lane. If he had paid closer attention he would have noticed that the Omega froze as well; if only for a split second. A moment passed when neither person did anything and Tiza was the first one to make a move, scooting the hand basket closer to Aosh in a gesture that said: ‘Are you going to check me out?’

Aosh was indeed checking the Omega out but in an entirely different sense.His hair was loose again, freely flowing to touch his shoulders,and he wore an over sized shirt tucked into a pair of jean short shorts.

The Alpha was suddenly aware of how unsightly he must look,his own hair pulled up into a messy ponytail and his plaid shirt and jeans combo were dirty from the little physical work he was allowed to do before they opened this morning. Embarrassed he quickly went to work going through the basket and inputting the contents into the registers screen.

Somehow he was able to say something intelligible this time but it was merely him asking ‘Is this all for you today?’ out of habit like he did with every customer. Aosh wanted to smack himself right after the words left his mouth, but instead kept his head down and started bagging the produce. When he didn’t receive an answer that only spurred on his thoughts.

Should he say something now? He wasn’t prepared for this like he was the other day, the carefully calculated confession he had practiced swiftly left his brain. When would he see the other again? It had to be now, he told himself, but the words became stuck in his throat. Why was this so hard? Aosh ran on autopilot, bagging the rest of the groceries and saying the total for everything like a robot. It wasn’t until he was handing Tiza his purchases that someone said something.

“Thank you for helping me earlier this week.”

Tiza looked anywhere but at the Alpha when he said this. To say he was embarrassed to encounter the same Alpha that rescued him would be an understatement, but whether it was here or in his classes it was bound to happen sooner rather than later.

Tiza was unclear of the man’s intentions. Being the only male that signed up for his classes was one thing, the fact that he was an Alpha was another. That information, coupled with the fact that he had been going to Tiza and Sean’s office that day too, was suspicious to the Omega.

Yes, this man had saved him from that disgusting unknown Beta, but who knew what his original reason for going to their office was. Naturally as an Omega his guard was up, it wasn’t uncommon for Alphas to harass Omegas even in this day and age. However, the Alpha in front of him helped him and deserved a thank you regardless.

Besides, Tiza had no information on his character to go off of; he looked intimidating with all those muscles and tattoos, especially the facial ones, but Tiza can’t remember the man saying much of anything that would cause suspicion. So his apprehensiveness to Aosh as a whole was solely because he was an Alpha. Even so Tiza curtly thanked him and was going to leave it at that, grabbing his bags to exit, but stopped short and turned around to ask one more thing.

“What’s your name by the way? I don’t remember you saying it in class.”

The question hung in the air. This was the perfect opportunity! He was handed the perfect opportunity to confess who he was. Finally. Aosh opened his mouth immediately to answer but a fleeting thought passed that caused him to stop. He remembered something that he heard Tiza say on that Monday prior.

“I don’t want to be with anyone.”

Those words were said right before he told the Beta to leave and the following altercation ensued. At first thinking back on it, Aosh thought those words were directed towards Marcus so he would leave Tiza alone, but thinking on it more Aosh looked at it a little deeper. Did Tiza want to be in a relationship right now? The idea never crossed his mind until now.

It might be too much for the Omega right now, to go through a traumatic experience like that and then suddenly have his fated mate appear out of thin air. Sean had also said this wasn’t the first time that Tiza had been through one of those situations, which made Aosh’s heart ache. Realizing he had been quiet up until now, Aosh quickly answered.

“A- Aaron. Aaron Taylor.”

Tiza gazed at Aosh for a second, his brilliant eyes unreadable.

“Well, Aaron, I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Tiza walked away and Aosh was left fully aware of the hole he was digging for himself.