"Taylor!" Cameron cried just as his mom rushed in. "Louis! Put Taylor down!" Emily shouted, but Louis was enraged. "You think you can just come into someone's house and scent someone's kid!" He shouted as he held Taylor up by the collar of her shirt. Taylor looked so much smaller than his father and Cameron felt fear seep into his veins when he realized that his dad could seriously hurt Taylor.

"Put her down!" He shouted but his father didn't listen, he shouted again and again but he didn't listen. Feeling panic rise in him he then jumped from the closet onto his father's back and pulled back when he wrapped an arm around his neck. Louis started to choke and dropped Taylor. Emily grabbed Taylor and moved her away from Louis. "Cameron let go of your father!" Emily tried to reason. 

But Cameron only saw red, why would he ever let go of this man! He tried to hurt Taylor! They didn't do anything bad or wrong! It was his fault Taylor was in here! Why was he trying to keep Taylor from him!? Why did his dad get to be happy, but he couldn't be happy with Taylor?!

As his father fell to his knees gasping for air, Cameron suddenly felt himself go limp and the anger drain out of him. He realized he had been pulled off his father and was in someone's arms. "Calm down Camie... It's okay." Taylor soothingly mumbled into his ear. "Taylor." Cameron whimpered before turning and hugging her tightly. His father gasped for air on the floor and Cameron let out a sob complaining to Taylor about how he thought his dad was going to hurt her. 

"It's alright Camie... There. There." Taylor hummed softly, Cameron heard a soft warbling noise come from her and he relaxed completely. He liked that noise. Rubbing his face against the nape of Taylor's neck he sighed and sniffled. "I want to go back to the nest." He mumbled, Taylor carried him over to the closet and sat down with him on her lap in the nest.

Taylor wiped the tears from Cameron's face, and he felt his parents staring at the two of them. "What was that?" Emily was confused and scared. Cameron could see it on her face. "I think..." Taylor spoke up, "We should call my mom." She added after a beat. "Yeah. Yeah!" Emily agreed grabbing Louis and dragging him out of the room despite his protests. Weak shouts of how Cameron was too little for a mate faded into the other room.

"I'm sorry." Cameron spoke up after silence hung between them for a while, "I... I don't know what came over me. I just wanted to protect you so bad." Cameron mumbled, Taylor looked over at him and smiled. "You did a good job." She said with a laugh, "I think your dad has more damage than I do." She added before pressing her forehead against his. Cameron smiled softly and pressed against her forehead enjoying the feeling. It felt good and natural to be with Taylor like the world made more sense. It made him happy.

After a few minutes, Cameron's parents came back into the room with Taylor's mom. "First of all. You don't put your hands on my kid." Jenny snapped at Louis who winced, "I'm sorry." He apologized shrinking back. "I'll let it slide this time. Because Cameron took care of the situation." Jenny folded her arms and glared, "But if I find out you've done that again. It doesn't matter how good of a friend I am to Emily. They'll never find your body." Jenny growled lowly. "Jenny." Emily sighed, "Emily he is a grown-ass man! I don't care if he's protective of Cameron. I'm just as protective of my baby too!" Jenny snapped before the three adults realized Cameron and Taylor were watching from the closet.

Jenny's expression softened instantly, "Oh that's so sweet." She cooed, "Taylor baby, are you taking care of Cameron?" She asked carefully approaching the closet. Taylor's face turned pink, and she nodded looking away. Cameron moved closer to Taylor fearing that Jenny might try to pull her out as his father did. He growled slightly and Jenny stopped moving closer. "Cameron, sweetheart I'm not going to try to take Taylor away, okay?" She said leaning down to his level. "I just want to check on her." She said softly, "Is that okay?" Cameron paused and then nodded. Jenny moved closer to the nest and reached out for Taylor. "How are you doing baby?" She asked sweetly.

"I'm okay, Cameron protected me," Taylor mumbled glancing over her mother's shoulder at Louis. He shot her a dirty look only to earn a glare from his son. "That's good. Mates should always protect each other." Jenny said nodding at Cameron who paused and looked at Jenny. "Mates?" Cameron asked, "Well sure, you have her in your nest, don't you? You even made it out of some of her things. That's the stuff you do if you really like someone." Jenny explained sitting in front of the closet.

Cameron shifted, "I'm too young for a mate." He mumbled feeling embarrassed, he wanted Taylor around and liked her, but mates seemed like such a big word at this age. Jenny nodded in understanding. "Maybe that's a little much for now." She corrected herself, "But you two like each other, don't you?" She asked, Cameron, nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! I feel really safe being with Taylor. She makes me happy." Cameron felt a goofy smile spread across his lips. Jenny's eyes softened, "That's so sweet. I'm so happy you like her that much." She said kindly before looking to Taylor. "Taylor do you like Cameron?" She asked, Taylor, groaned and buried her face into the back of Cameron's neck before mumbling out a soft, "yeah."

Jenny smiled in a similar manner that Cameron had seen Taylor smile. "That's wonderful news." She said calmly, "Now, I want you two to know that just because you like each other doesn't mean you're bonded for life, okay?" She said, the two kids nodded. "But it's okay if you want to be together for a very long time." She added, "So if you have any questions or maybe something happens that you think is scary or a big deal you need to come to talk to me about it okay?" She said reaching out and patting down both kids' hair. "There's a lot of new feelings going on here and that's very exciting." She said softly, Taylor and Cameron couldn't help but smile hearing this.

This made them feel better about what was going on. Cameron's dad had made them feel like what they were doing was bad or dirty. But Taylor's mom made them feel like this was a good thing. Jenny then reached into her purse and pulled out something for Cameron. "Camie, honey, I want you to wear this okay?" She said handing a collar over to Cameron. "This will keep any accidental markings from happening." She explained helping Cameron put the collar on. It was yellow, Cameron's favorite color. "It's got a fingerprint scanner on the back and only you can take it off, okay?" Jenny explained. Cameron nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Jenny." He mumbled as the collar beeped and locked in.

"Only take it off if you're ready alright! Only you will know when that's a good time." Jenny stressed, Cameron nodded and leaned back into Taylor feeling more relaxed now. "Good," Jenny said taking a breath before looking at Taylor. She smiled and her eyes filled with tears, "My baby is growing up so fast." She spoke softly, "mom." Taylor mumbled embarrassed but had a smile on her face. "You're a good girl Taylor. Just keep doing like you've been doing. You know exactly what you need to do in order to take care of your Camie okay?" Jenny encouraged her, "Okay." Taylor mumbled flustered but happy.

"Good. You two are not bad and you're not doing anything wrong. This is very normal. Now, remember what I said ok?" Jenny said standing up. "Okay." Both kids spoke at the same time. Louis huffed and puffed the entire time. "So, what we're just going to let them pop out a ton of kids before they're out of high school?" He snapped, Jenny whipped around and glared at him. "First of all, Louis. You can't keep kids apart if they want to be together. It's our job to help them if they get into trouble." Jenny walked away from the closet and stomped over to Louis. Despite being shorter than the much larger alpha. Jenny managed to knock the alpha back onto Cameron's bed with just her presence alone.

"Second, they haven't done anything! They're just kids!" Jenny exclaimed, "If they really wanted to do something like that together there are a lot better ways and places to go do it!" Jenny ranted, Emily spoke up, "I'm confused, isn't Cameron being in heat supposed to drive any alphas crazy?" Emily asked breaking through the escalating argument. Jenny sighed and shook her head. "That's not entirely true. Alphas are perfectly capable of controlling themselves. Society just makes excuses." Jenny explained flippantly.

"Also, Taylor's not bothered because those two are scent bonded. Each other's smell isn't arousing to each other. It's soothing." Jenny explained, "It's something that usually happens later in a relationship. But it's not uncommon for young couples to become scent bonded before anything happens." Jenny added, before scoffing at the dumbfounded looks on Louis and Emily's faces. "That doesn't even make sense. All the men in my family have always been alphas or betas!" Louis exclaimed. "Well, not Cameron. It's hilarious to me that you ever thought Cameron could be anything but an omega. The boy ran around in Taylor's jackets and sweaters all the time." Jenny said with a laugh.

"I did the same thing to Taylor's dad." She added with a nostalgic look in her eyes. "Also, Cameron's as high strung as my oldest Samuel ever dared to be," Jenny remarked mostly to herself. "Samuel?" Cameron asked looking at Taylor. "He's my big brother. He's an omega." Taylor explained. "Oh," Cameron said not knowing that Taylor had an older brother. Most of Taylor's siblings were much older than her so they never really hung out with him and Taylor. "He works on a TV show in Diamond City." Taylor remarked, "That's cool." Cameron said with a grin.

"This is just very new to us. I'm a beta and Louis is an alpha." Emily tried her best to smooth things over. "That doesn't excuse threatening my Taylor." Jenny snapped before sighing, "You should've just called. We're neighbors. And apparently, there's a good chance we might be more in the future." Jenny remarked motioning over to Cameron and Taylor. "We've got to help each other out." Louis and Emily sighed. "We'll do that in the future." Emily agreed with a smile. "Good, it takes a village after all!" Jenny said happily. "Now come on, let's let these kids have some time alone," Jenny said grabbing both Emily and Louis dragging them out of the room. The alpha and beta stood no chance to the forceful omega despite their complaints and worried looks.

Once Cameron and Taylor were alone the two of them looked at one another. "So..." Taylor spoke up, "Does this mean we're mates or something?" She asked, Cameron, leaned his head on her shoulder sleepily. "I don't know." He mumbled with a yawn. "I like you." He smiled looking at Taylor who smiled back. "I like you too." She replied. "I think that's enough for now," Cameron suggested, Taylor nodded. The two of them got comfortable and ended up falling asleep once more.

Things didn't change after that, but they felt different between Taylor and Cameron. It was like they had another piece to the puzzle between them. They were bonded, somehow, though the concept of scent bonding was weird, and everyone always said different things when they asked. Taylor's mom ranted and raved about how romantic it was and how she and Taylor's dad were scent bonded. 

Their health teacher remarked that it was a great alternative to marking for their age. Cameron's dad and mom were nervous about it and his dad would start ranting about how he was too young to have that kind of relationship with someone. It seemed like everyone had an opinion on what direction their relationship should take, but Cameron and Taylor were simply happy being with each other.

As they got older and hit high school. More of their peers started pairing off, some swearing up and down they found their soul mates and marking too soon. Only to break up the next week. Others would get caught up in the drama and fight each other for their desired partners. There was always a fight between two alphas or two omegas. More than once, Taylor had to grab Cameron and run so they didn't get pulled into whatever nonsense was going on.

In their second year of high school, Cameron and Taylor were sitting together at lunch. Their friends slowly sat down at the table. Megan and Lola sat next to each other shortly joined by Bryan and Chris. Megan and Chris were from the neighborhood and lived down the street from Cameron and Taylor. "How goes it for our resident married couple?" Chris asked teasingly, Chris was always the mischievous sort like that suitable for his omega dynamic, Cameron huffed softly leaning on Taylor's shoulder. 

"Stayed up too late studying." He grumbled just as a new person joined the table. "Who's this?" he asked seeing a young male sitting on the other side of Bryan.

Bryan, a quiet beta spoke up. "Uh, this is Frankie. He's new, so I thought I'd invite him to our table." Bryan said sheepishly looking around to make sure it was okay. Taylor, being the only alpha in the group was suddenly zeroed in by everyone. "What?" She asked. "He's another alpha. Are you okay with that?" Megan spoke up, Megan, like her brother Chris was an omega as well. Frankie grinned sheepishly at Taylor who cocked an eyebrow.

"Why would I be bothered by another alpha?" She asked the group, "Well aren't alphas all territorial?" Lola spoke up, Lola was another beta in the group and was a little disconnected from the reality of the other dynamics. "Not really." Taylor said easily, "So if he flirts with Cameron..." Chris spoke up trailing off, Taylor stared. "I'd only be mad if it upset Cameron." She said looking over at Frankie before looking at Cameron who seemed indifferent. "Would that make you uncomfortable?" She asked Cameron, side-eyed her. "I don't care." He said flatly, he felt nothing towards the other alpha. Besides their friends were just trying to get a rise out of them.

"What if another omega flirts with Taylor?" Megan asked grinning at Cameron who stared at Megan. "I know where you live," Cameron said point-blank. "Is that a threat?" Frankie spoke up off to the side. "It's more of an observation," Taylor remarked with a laugh, she rubbed Cameron's back with an amused look on her face. "Calm down killer." She teased, Cameron huffed and moved close to her closing his eyes. He had enough of their nonsense for today.

"So, is he your boyfriend or something?" Frankie asked speaking up.