Leo laughed quietly upon hearing that request. He looked at her with tired eyes.

"That's not going to be possible, Clara. I don't go to those parties."

Clara looked at him in a strange way.

"And why not? Instead of taking care of things afterward, you could live it in the moment, in real time."

Leo felt a shiver run down his spine, he looked at her strangely, ignoring that uncomfortable sensation.

"I don't know what you're referring to."

Clara observed him before signaling that she apologized. Although those feminine eyes scrutinized him completely. Leo understood that surely some pheromones had remained—after all, she was a dominant omega, they were usually highly perceptive.

But this time it was Leo who had questions.

"...By the way, do you know what type of drug they gave Jared?"

Clara fixed her gaze on him before responding, but something felt off to Leo. It was as if she were trying to decipher something.

"So in the end you were beta... you really could pass for alpha without problem," Clara commented, with curiosity.

"I don't understand," he responded quietly. "It's true, my subgender isn't defined yet, but I don't know why it's relevant in this case."

Clara approached him and whispered in his ear:

"Jared didn't take anything. I was the one who gave him a pheromone bath."

She moved away, winking at him.

Leo looked at her horrified. Clara became serious and refuted in a dry tone.

"Maybe I should mark him next time."

Leo's expression transformed and for the next few minutes Clara completely changed her attitude.

"I'm not going to do it, there's no need for you to kill me. Still, let me tell you something—ultra-dominant alphas don't love, they lack empathy and the capacity to love. They live at the mercy of their need to dominate. I'm not trying to give you a lesson, but who did he spend the rut with, does he even remember? Does he even know who you are or did he just keep the sweet pheromones he felt?"

Leo lowered his gaze. He couldn't tell her anything—she was being sincere and although he hated to admit it, she was doing it with good intention.

He raised his gaze for a few seconds, he felt his eyes burning. When he spoke, his tone sounded cold and cutting.

"You have a month to conquer your alpha because I don't plan to go to the party, and I certainly don't plan to spend a rut with him. Maybe it's a good time to leave the city."

He smiled at her, turned on his heels and with light steps headed to the library.

At that hour it was always empty and it was the only place where he could calm down.

Wednesday, Jared returned to school. When Leo entered the classroom, the blonde was already sitting in the back. It became very difficult for him to act as always, and he seriously thought he had made a mistake spending that night with him. He had to ask himself how he would act normally—on another occasion he wouldn't ask how the party had been, but would ignore it. He would take out his books and look for the material he needed. His hands trembled slightly as he did it.

They had Ethics, so he turned to ask if they had given him the material when one of his classmates approached to ask him something about Friday's presentation. Their gazes crossed for a few seconds, and Jared gave him the same greeting as always. North still hadn't arrived. While he answered the question, he prayed inside that he would ask him more things, but the young man left after thanking him.

"Show time," he told himself. He grabbed the notebook with some assignments and headed to the back.

He threw the material on the desk. Jared smiled at him, thanking him.

"Only two weeks left to finish anyway."

Leo looked at him with a serious expression.

"I don't know what that has to do with assignments. Classes haven't ended yet."

Jared shrugged.

"How were your vacations?" Leo asked with a mischievous expression, as he would have done on other occasions.

Seeing Jared's reaction, he regretted the joke he had made.

"If by vacations you mean the days I spent hospitalized, getting poked everywhere, having God knows what shit drugs put in my body, honestly I would have preferred staying with you summarizing that piece of crap 1000-page book."

Leo looked at him surprised.

"Next time you're invited to spend it with me in the library."

Jared burst out laughing.

"Leo, next time is in a month and we'll already be on vacation... imagine if I'm going to go to a library in summer."

Leo added sharply:

"It wouldn't hurt you."

Jared settled in his seat—he was going to add something but at that moment the teacher in charge entered and Leo returned to his place.

During the next 4 hours they barely crossed paths. Leo had been busy with various tasks, and even during break he had spent it in the office. Jared hadn't caused problems all morning and he wondered if it was a result of the short stay in the hospital.

During the second break, he went out to the back garden and looked for a quiet corner where he could eat a sandwich away from the crowd. He wondered if Jared would be in the cafeteria.

He only took one bite before putting it away again—he wasn't hungry. This was the second time this year he had brought something to eat. He usually always had lunch in the institute cafeteria and even had his favorite spot. He was avoiding it. Jared wasn't the fastest, but even he would suspect if he continued with such attitudes.

When he returned to the classroom, he didn't see him anywhere. There were two hours left to finish the day. He looked at the schedule—they had History. He snorted, he didn't have his head for analyzing historical facts. Someone came to get him.

"Leo, they're calling you to the office."

When he arrived, he found another young omega whom he immediately recognized because he was Clara's class representative.

"So she went to get her."

An unpleasant sensation churned his stomach.

When he directed his gaze to Jared, who was in a corner, he saw that he had a very ugly cut on his right arm. The secretary asked if he could accompany him to the infirmary. It wasn't a deep cut and the wound was no longer bleeding, but still it needed to be disinfected. Leo let out a silent snort while getting moving.

Jared accompanied him in silence to the infirmary. When he arrived, he saw it was closed. Leo took the key from his pocket and opened the door, signaling for him to enter. He closed the door behind him. Jared took a seat near the window.

While he went looking for disinfectant and gauze, he heard Jared's inquisitive tone.

"They told me Clara came looking for you on Monday. What did she want?"

Leo felt his mouth dry—in the end he supposed there were no safe places in that place.

The dark-haired boy calmed himself internally—it was best to go with the truth.

"She wants me to babysit at the next pheromone party."

He soaked the cotton in disinfectant and roughly pressed it on Jared's wound. The alpha tried to pull his arm away with a long groan, but Leo had him held by the wrist with great force. Suddenly he felt very angry, his voice when speaking was cutting:

"But I had to tell her I don't work overtime." He removed the cotton, and without thinking blew on the wound—he knew it stung a lot. When he realized what he was doing, he looked for the gauze and with a dry blow placed it over the wound, making Jared jump in his seat.

"Ouch Leo, it hurt less when they stabbed me with the compass," the alpha responded with a pitiful tone. "Leo, are you angry?"

The dark-haired boy fixed his gaze on those shining honey-colored eyes and before being able to think his words, began to speak:

"Can't you control yourself? Does Clara have to come ask for extra surveillance and an omega stab a compass in your arm for you to understand she wants nothing to do with you? How many more signs do you need, Jared?"

He pulled his arm away furiously.

"I got the message, thanks. I just went to demand an apology. That bitch doesn't know her place in society, she dares to attack an alpha of my class." His eyes shone with dangerous hatred. "She doesn't even seem to realize she only exists to procreate."

Leo looked at him especially disappointed. He already knew how he thought, but hearing him talk like that after having had a rut caused by dominant pheromones seemed almost comical to him.

What could he respond to those words?

"And yet, as an ultra-dominant alpha you absolutely need an omega in your life to balance the level of your pheromones and not end up with internal intoxication. The omegas you despise so much are essential for alphas like you."

"That crazy bitch tried to kill me, she gave me a pheromone bath. And on top of that..." he stopped, hesitating.

Leo observed him expectantly. Jared looked up and asked uncertainly:

"What happened that night? What did I tell you when I called you? What happened when we saw each other?"

Leo felt his heart accelerate but he was prepared—he had practiced at least ten different versions of that conversation.

He lowered his gaze, somewhat embarrassed.

"I didn't get to see you, Jared... you called me at 3 AM, I was sleeping, I had been drinking, I don't remember exactly what you told me. You mentioned Clara, and sent me the location, I think I opened the link. I called you to tell you to come home, but you didn't answer. Then I fell asleep. Where the hell were you? And North?"

Jared looked at him worried.

"North stayed at the party, they kicked me out for a problem with Clara."

Leo observed him—he looked confused while relating the facts.

"Then I went home, apparently accompanied. I spent the night with someone but I don't know who, I don't even know how I got to my house. I have no memories, it's horrible. I had traces of pheromones and other things..."

Leo nodded seriously.

"At least you spent the night with an omega."

Jared blushed, looked up.

"No Leo, it was with a man." He covered his face as if he had confessed the worst of sins. "How disgusting!"

Leo felt a tremor in his chest, he tried to make his voice sound normal when he responded:

"What difference does it make if it's a man or woman? There are male omegas just like there are female alphas."

"I don't care if he's omega, I don't like men. Besides, the son of a bitch, I'm going to kill him... he tore the skin on my shoulder, left me a deep wound. I'm sure he was from the pheromone party, the idiot North didn't see anything because he was busy getting laid. Some asshole must have followed me. Omegas in heat are disgusting."

Leo smiled—the least he deserved was a bite.

"Did he mark you?" he asked mockingly, knowing the answer in advance.

"It's not funny, Leo, it's fucking awful. But no, he didn't mark me. The doctors did a study to rule out any marking." He twisted his mouth. "If I find out who it is, I'm going to give him the beating of his life."

"You were lucky, Jared. Don't abuse it."

He gave him a little tap on the shoulder where he had the injury. He heard a curse under his breath.

He left the infirmary with a smile. His secret was safe, although his heart wasn't.