I was fortunate not to have caused an accident as I fled that cursed place. I had intended to give that man a piece of my mind, yet here I was, breathless, shaken, and utterly petrified.

“Almega!”

“I thought you knew,” Norma had said, her tone dry as old parchment. “How much of a fool can you be? You have been an Almega for months already.”

“That is impossible!” My voice had cracked. “I—I would have had to be near a Dominant Omega in heat and… and—”

“And you were,” she had replied evenly. “Fortune smiled upon you; you are the first to awaken this time.”

“This time?” My blood had run cold. “This has happened before?”

Her eyes softened with something I could not name. “He chose you from among thousands. Consider it an honour.”

“Screw your honour, and all of you with it!”

I had staggered away, mind reeling. Drat! How could I not have known? Dominants often use flowers to balance their enormous pheromones, unlike Betas, who use them to scent themselves. Pheromone Experience was running on that basic principle! How could I have been so blind?

By the time I reached Noelle’s apartment, Norma’s words still echoed in my skull, every syllable a fresh stab to the gut. My mind spun like a wheel, my skin still reeking of that cloying, intoxicating scent. I needed to scrub away the feeling, to wash this entire morning from my body.

How could I have mistaken him for a Recessive? Had my rage so blinded me that I failed to understand why he required those flowers in the first place? I had simply assumed he liked them.

“Drat!” I shouted aloud, kicking at the empty air. His pheromones had overpowered me in a way I could not explain… and could not forgive.

Luck favored me again: Noelle was not home to interrogate me. I showered furiously, yet no amount of water could cleanse the throb that remained deep within me, sickening and unwanted. This was not the life I had imagined for myself. I had been the one enchanting Omegas and Betas into blissful dependency, and now the tables had turned.

Almegas stood at the very bottom of the gender hierarchy, almost forgotten, barely spoken of.

What was I to do now?

Then it struck me… Noelle’s secrecy, her evasions. She must have noticed the change in my pheromones and investigated behind my back. Perhaps she had even contacted that insufferable man first.

“Where is she?” I muttered darkly. “Why is she not home yet?”

I turned to the internet in desperation, scouring every corner of it for answers. The more I read, the more the walls seemed to close around me. Almegas, it said, were irresistible to all genders, most dangerously so to Betas.

If memory served, Almegas were the bridge between Betas and the so-called Abnormals.

I froze, staring at the screen.

“I am a living temptress,” I whispered.

I read for hours, hoping some source might disprove what I already knew. Some claimed Almegas were a curse, a mistake of nature, but one article struck a chord.

It explained that most Dominants are unaware of the full force of their pheromones until their first heat trigger, often set off by another Dominant, usually an Alpha. But such encounters are rare; Dominant Alphas and Omegas are natural rivals, each perceiving the other as a threat.

However, if a Dominant Omega meets a recessive Alpha, their pheromones can synchronize over time. If the Alpha’s pheromones respond in kind, the Recessive may mutate into an Almega, one of the rarest known genders, a fusion of Alpha and Omega traits.

And once that change is confirmed, the Dominant Omega often claims the new Almega as a partner.

My hands trembled as I read.

“This cannot be happening,” I whispered. “I have never seen him in heat… never even sensed— No. No, I refuse to think about it.”

When the door finally opened, Noelle’s shocked face greeted me.

“Uta! We have been worried sick! Your phone is off, no one knows where you are, even the assistant at the shop said you never arrived today. Are you all right?”

“You knew, didn’t you?” I said quietly. The missed deliveries, the shop, Pheromone Experience, all of it meant nothing compared to the truth burning in my chest.

Noelle blinked, then her expression softened into something like relief. “I suspected. I noticed the change in your pheromones a while ago, but I thought it was just a new perfume or something. How could I have known you were an Almega?”

“Do not say that word!” I snapped. “For all I know, I ought to be in a hospital, purging myself of whatever seed that man may have left in me.”

“But Uta, this changes everything. Hun wants to take responsibility for what happened.”

“Responsibility?” I scoffed. “Is that what you call blackmail?”

“You stand to gain, even if the marriage lasts only a year.”

“You know how possessive Alphas are, and you expect me to walk into this trap willingly?”

“Then you have considered his proposal,” she said gently.

“No! I want a doctor, not a wedding!”

“He called me,” she said.

“He what?”

“He sounded desperate,” she continued. “Uta, you know you cannot simply abandon an Omega after an intimate encounter. Separation must be gradual, or—”

“What nonsense is this?”

“Omegas bond quickly, especially with the partner they have chosen,” she explained.

“He took advantage of me!”

“No, Uta.” Her tone softened. “You did.”

I froze, unable to comprehend.

“Noelle, I have no memory of what happened,” I said, unbuttoning my shirt and turning to show her my bruised back. “Does this look like the body of someone who took advantage of anyone?”

She blinked, then blushed and giggled. “Oh my… I did not know he liked you that much.”

“Noelle!”

“I am sorry, bestie!” she laughed. “But you have to admit—”

Her laughter grated at me. My trust in her, my sense of safety, my dignity, all of it seemed to crumble in that moment.

“Listen,” she said more seriously. “I understand why you feel wronged. But I have heard both your account and his, and I ask you to think carefully. Have you considered that you may have been the one to trigger his heat? You have used your pheromones in those flowers for years. Perhaps, without realizing it, you dosed him enough to make him reliant, and when he finally reached his limit—”

I clenched my fists. She was right. I had used my pheromones sparingly in many of those orders, especially when pressed for time. But he had never reacted.

“Bestie,” she said gently. “He is already bound to your scent.”

“What of my other customers? No one else has ever asked to marry me!”

“You have always been a charmer. Everyone knows it. But Hun…” She shook her head. “Hun has fallen harder than you think.”

“You are not bound to me,” I muttered bitterly.

“As an Omega, safety is everything,” she said softly. “When we find an Alpha whose pheromones give us that sense of safety, we want to remain near them. To cling to them. Hun feels that with you, only stronger. You are not just an Alpha to him; you are the Alpha he has chosen.”

My throat tightened.

“He has treated me like a nuisance,” I said.

“Because he wanted your attention,” she replied simply.

“Impossible.”

“Really? When you first started delivering flowers, you never spoke of him at all. Only of his house. But when he started irritating you, suddenly you noticed him. And when that became the only way to keep your attention—”

I stared at her, stunned.

“He persisted,” she finished quietly. “Until he could no longer bear it.”