The glowing paint and stickers slapped over random surfaces wasn’t enough to give River a clear view of anything but the lanes. They were lit up with stripes to indicate where to fling the ball, and the pins shone neon green at the end. River didn't expect to knock many down, but maybe that was for the best - she needed all the light she could get.

In the murky darkness around her, small groups of people mingled and chattered over drum and bass tracks blaring through speakers hanging from the walls. With her sight and hearing distorted, her sense of smell kicked into overdrive. Stale nachos, sweaty bodies, overpowering perfume, alcohol mixed with other alcohol, feet transferring from shoe to shoe, so much beta scent swirling in the air.

Unable to pinpoint her own scent in the chaos, she pulled her focus into Elliott’s. She ducked her nose into her collar, breathing him in. Strong, steady, alpha scent filled her nose. A palate cleanser. Her shoulders unclenched where she didn't realise she had been bunching them. It wasn’t ideal, but she needed to ground herself before she started to panic. She untucked her chin and tried to appear calm.

There may be a lot of false stereotypes about omegas, but scent sensory overload was completely real, and she couldn’t make a scene in front of her friends. The mysteries and myths surrounding omegas made it difficult enough for people to feel comfortable approaching, River didn’t need the additional repellent of seeming volatile.

Her name was shouted into her ear. It was her turn to bowl. She tilted her chin to her chest and sucked in one more soothing breath before jumping up with a wide grin and pretending to be excited to push a ball that weighed more than her down a children’s ramp. 

Daria had lined it up for her already. River used both hands to heft the smallest available bowling ball from the line-up and clutch it to her chest. Groups from other lanes were peering over, not needing to smell her to know what she was. Submissives cooed at her, dominants smirked and winked at her. River tried not to let her embarrassment show.

The ball rolled smoothly, and slowly, and she got four pins down. Her friends celebrated like she'd won a world championship. Second bowl and she got two more, same reaction.

Willow went next and got the same cheers and high-fives for getting only one pin down. River relaxed a little knowing it wasn't omega pity that had made them rally round her like that. She joined in, clapping congratulations for every throw.

As the rounds went on, the scent overload only got worse. Her eyes couldn't adjust to the dark room, the shadows bumping into each other around their booth. Her ears couldn't distinguish much amongst the music and the shouting and drinks being dropped and clanked.

She sunk her nose down more and more, spending more time submerged in Elliott's scent every time she let herself take a break within it. Not addictive, but necessary. When she forced her head up for too long, she started to feel sick.

They had run out of drinks, and it was her round. She gestured this to the group and backed out of their booth as Savannah earned their first strike. The girls jumped up and down together with high-pitched screams. River smiled weakly and turned away to find the bar. She felt dizzy, and unwell, all too many sensations crawling over her skin. Too much of everything all around.

A tight grip took her elbow. Unbreakable. Unshakeable. She was manoeuvred through the weakly glowing room and the pounding noise by a hand she had only before felt on her throat. EMERGENCY EXIT glowed ahead, and the door was booted open, with River yanked through by the arm. Elliott let it fall closed behind them with a slam and released River to slump back against the brick outer wall of the bowling alley. In her dazed state, she might have accidentally... ogled him.

Permanently clean-shaven, neatly combed hair, and a spotless sweater made up Elliott’s signature style. Today, he’d ditched the sweater. His arms were all the more inviting for it - lines of muscle egging her on to bury her face into the bulge of his biceps. The things those arms could do sent a chain of clenching sensations from her belly to her toes. She should have been scared. Alphas were oversized and prone to territorial aggression, and naturally gifted predators, and-

“Breathe,” Elliott ordered.

“I’m fine,” River gasped.

“I’m not. It fucking stinks in there.”

River gulped the fresh, cold air. It was hard not to look like a fish out of water, but she felt so much better already. The sickly feeling retreated back down her throat.

Once the nausea had dissipated almost completely, giggles overtook her.

Elliott watched her with a strange look on his face. “What’s funny?”

“I never imagined you to be the type to cuss,” River laughed quietly.

“Oh?” He drew in closer, shielding her against the wall. His scent was familiar instead of threatening, like an alpha's should be. “Tell me what you imagined.” A husky drawl that tickled at her.

“I don’t know.” River shrugged, still smiling, still awash with the security that his presence pressed on her. Logically, it was very stupid to be feeling this safe so close to an alpha. The scent was soothing, though. For a few days, it had been hers. “I always thought you were kinda… classy.”

A laugh barked out of him. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you money doesn’t buy class?”

“You have nice manners when you’re not scent marking strangers," River offered.

“How would a stranger know that I have nice manners?”

“You don’t cause trouble,” she corrected herself. Maybe it wasn’t good manners, maybe it was just a lack of bad ones. He kept to himself, he didn't bother anyone. Not until her.

This delighted him for some reason. And his smile delighted River. It was bright, gleaming, and boyish; maybe he wasn’t quite so mature and sophisticated after all. She flushed and dropped her gaze.

“What?” he chuckled.

“Nothing." She brought her eyes back up. They were strangers sharing a scent, nothing more. And all the fuss of the scent mark had been so she could join her friends at bowling, so she needed to return to them and make the most of it. Even if the environment made her want to chuck. "I should get back inside before they notice I ran off.”

“Get a few more breaths before you do.” His voice had become a growl again, rough and domineering. “You think I don’t know scent overload when I see it?”

“I-” River bit her lips back into her mouth and looked away, shamed.

“It happens." He flicked her chin with one finger, drawing her gaze back up to him. An alpha, touching her so casually. "It’s dark and loud in there and when your other senses are knocked out, your nose will kick into overdrive.”

“Y-yeah.” River shrugged, pulling her head down again and hoping he couldn’t see her lips wobbling. “Thanks.” She was mortified. Most didn’t know enough about omegas to be familiar with scent sensory overload, let alone be able to recognise it in someone. In the dark. Under pounding music and squealing chatter.

“Okay,” she breathed. “I’m good now.”

He didn’t budge from his place propped in front of the door. His cobalt eyes watched her, holding her in place for a little longer.

“Don’t walk through that alley on your way home,” he said, kicking off from the wall and freeing her from his stare.

River hurried through the gap. “What alley?”

“The one you arrived from.”

She pressed her shoulder into the door and tried to ignore the strange reaction in her stomach at the knowledge that she had been watched.

Elliott didn’t follow her inside.

×

Daria came last. Willow won. Savannah and River took second and third places respectively.

They shared a meal in the restaurant tacked onto the side of the building to celebrate Willow's win, and then gathered around their phones outside to work out how they were all getting home. The girls revealed a different walkway to get back to the main road that allowed River to avoid the alleyway, and they separated for their different bus stops.

She could feel eyes on her from the shadows again as she headed back towards the bus stop. A longer route to go all the way round, but worth it to avoid ending up in a bin bag. No one approached, every watcher did just that: watched. It was silly that she hoped a deep blue pair were among them, but the fantasy made her feel a little better.

Sat safely contained within the bus, the thought suddenly occurred that Elliott hadn’t made any excuse for being at the bowling alley at the same time as her. It was a Friday, a busy time for the lanes, but it didn’t seem his scene.

River rolled her eyes to the window and watched world go by. It was none of her business what a stranger was getting up to in his free time.