→ Sienna:

“Look at this garbage,” Sienna scowled, dropping a magazine atop her cherry wood desk with a smack. “I mean, just what is he hoping to achieve by publishing this? If anything, his few forward-thinking consumers will see him as even more of a stiff traditionalist,” the retired model sighed, slumping into her black, velvet throne of an office chair.

Charlotte Chen, Sienna’s eldest model and assistant-in-training, picked up the abandoned magazine to read for herself, scrunching up her face like she always did whenever she was about to consume something distasteful.

“‘It is both my honor and pleasure to announce my senior model Josiah Livingston’s rebirth as Miss Josephine Livingston,’” Charlotte read from the center article with her best Charles-impersonation. “‘I only wish that she had presented herself sooner, and not at the end of her term—’ oh, he is so full of shit! Come on, now,” she exclaimed, cutting herself off when ALPHA Magazine CEO’s words proved too much to bear.

Sienna Johnson, founder and CEO of OMEGA magazine and once America’s top model for many years prior, had never been more offended by her husband’s words. Well, husband only on paper as of the moment, but he was still technically her husband despite their having been separated for over two years now. The man wasn’t so easy to drop when he had a large hand in her magazine’s popularity, for the retired model had originally started her company by riding off the coattails of his “ALPHA,” afterall.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous, I know,” Sienna said, followed by a hollow laugh. “The world is well-aware of how traditional Charles is, signing only the best alpha males that vie for his attention,” she continued and plucked a pen from her “#1 Mom” mug. “What goes unsaid is that ‘Josephine’ purposely waited until the end of her contract for fear the old man would terminate her.”

Sienna rolled the pen along her thumb and proceeded to glare at the red puffball topper. “I only wish he didn’t drag my name into his business. Again!” The retired model threw the pen across her office space, and Charlotte managed to avoid this unannounced strike by a mere hair.

“Wait, where did he call you out this time…” Charlotte blurted, riffling through the pages to find the article again (she had definitely not distracted herself with looking for any new content of her beloved Hyung).

“Darling, it's toward the end. Don't get distracted by your boy toy,” Sienna said, leaning back on her throne again and crossing her legs. All of her girls were as predictable as day and night to her, no matter how many years went by. In fact, Sienna could figure out how any omega ticked in a single interview.

“‘If a female alpha applied, would you accept her at face value, Charles?’” Charlotte continued reading, pretending not to be bothered by Sienna calling her out. “‘Of course not! Charles replied. She would have to show just as much promise as my boys, but even so—I fear she’d take all the spotlight from them for being so different; a rare gem. And I still have yet to meet one regardless, save for our beloved Miss Livingston—’ Oh please, don’t make me throw up!” Sienna chuckled at her heir-to-be’s dramatic gagging.

“Here it is,” Charlotte exclaimed after regathering herself, tapping one of her stiletto nails where the text must’ve been. “‘Christopher, you must understand that proving such a long-standing myth would throw ALPHA into chaos, and the world subsequently.’ Well yeah, he’s not wrong about that, but we’d welcome the madness anyway, wouldn’t we, mama?”

“Keep going, dear,” Sienna urged, finger wave and all. Charlotte rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. Models didn’t have to read aloud like she did since training for the mantle, so it was quite the vocal strain for her.

“‘I mean think about it,’” Charlotte continued reading from the quoted interview, leaning on her right leg. “‘That would be like if Sienna hired omega males—which will obviously never happen—but we’d be in big trouble! Mr. Johnson cried, and I had to agree with him. Well, Charles, it’s a good thing they don’t exist! I told him and we both had a good laugh.’ How disgusting.” Charlotte narrowed her eyes and rolled up the magazine in her fit.

“How dare they assume you’d be as judgmental as him!” Charlotte scoffed, raising the fist that clenched the magazine roll to the sky.

Sienna appreciated Charlotte’s shared disdain for muddying her good name, but she held onto a doubt that her miniature self would join her in trying to actually break the myth.

“Charlotte,” Sienna drawled, pushing off her desk to stand. She walked around the side and right up to the younger woman, the clack of her heels muffled by the plush carpet. “Do you honestly believe they don’t exist?” she cupped her assistant’s face and lifted her chin higher.

“O-of course not, mama!” Charlotte stuttered, distracted by her boss’ sudden closeness. The retired model often did this when she wanted her employees to understand the seriousness of whatever situation they got themselves into. “I only think that the real ones are too ashamed to make themselves known. They probably have some super private community that’s yet to be uncovered.”

As soon as Sienna realized Charlotte had nothing more to add, she smirked and promptly squished the model’s cheeks for a couple seconds. “Good,” she said, relinquishing her hold to pat her assistant’s reddened cheeks, ignoring the quiet whine that followed.

“We start next week,” Sienna turned and said.

“I’m sorry, but what?” Charlotte exclaimed, tripping forward while Sienna worked her way around the desk again.

“Searching for an omega male to scout, obviously,” Sienna stated and retrieved the stack of print-outs she’d set aside earlier when Charlotte was busy posing.

When Charlotte didn’t respond right away, the retired model looked up and raised a brow. “What? Our twenty-fifth anniversary is under way and if you think I’m going to stand for this mockery, then perhaps I’ve made an error of judgment for my future replacement.”

The eldest model lifted her chin high and dropped the magazine on top of her boss’ current project. Sienna crossed her arms and awaited Charlotte’s excuse for daring to impose.

“I’ll begin my research right away,” Charlotte stated, expression as hard as stone but eyes blazing. There was the fire Sienna chose her for. Although the weekend was beginning, giving the assistant a mere two days to prepare a summary, she intended to help her boss in any way she could, used to her high expectations. “Anything else?”

“No,” Sienna said, waving her hand. “You’ve been dismissed.”

“See you Monday,” Charlotte said with a brief bow. Sienna had to fight the oncoming smile as the model left without another word, refusing to show how proud she was of the little fire spirit.

The latest ALPHA copy unrolled to reveal Josephine’s bright smile, comfortable in her new feminine fashion.

“As lovely as she looks, that outfit is clearly from last year,” Sienna scoffed aloud and shoved the offending piece into the small recycling bin beside her desk.

Even worse, I’m fairly certain a DELTA beta model wore it, the retired model mused. She shook her head and snapped her red binder-clipped papers out in front of her, refusing to let her mind wander any further.

“Focus!” she cried. “We have a recluse to find…”

Weeks of both Sienna and Charlotte investigating any potential areas they’d found rumors of or suspicions on passed. They’d gone together the majority of the time, but sometimes they had to go solo when the current business took priority. Charlotte also still had some photoshoots to attend, fewer as they were now that she was training to be Sienna’s heir.

The partners-in-crime traversed hot spots in the states bordering California on the weekends, but never ventured beyond that for fear of complications moving the potential new model. The further away the omega was, the less likely he’d be willing to travel.

Soon enough, they were a couple of months into the new year and had still seen no success. Sienna met with a total of two supposed omega males she’d found online, only to discover each one had actually transitioned into male. Of course, she didn’t have a problem with transgenders, and would openly accept any of her girls transitioning, but her goal was to prove that cis omega males existed (since her husband and the rest of his kind thought otherwise).

Considering the magazine was only three months shy of its big anniversary volume, Sienna was half tempted to throw in the towel. If only she wasn’t such a stubborn mule when taking up a challenge (even though the challenger himself was blind to it)!

So, Sienna continued her search, but also spent her free time at home pondering what she could bring to the magazine in place of her failing plan. Perhaps she could broaden her search and find an alpha female guest, or even invite Josephine for a big feminine power group photo spread. Actually, that sounded like a good idea regardless and she would love to include that in the volume.

To Sienna’s surprise, she finally spotted potential two weeks into Plan H: high school senior career fairs. Normally this was beneath the magazine CEO, as she preferred for the omegas to come to her during her interview month, but the idea presented itself to her in the form of one of her models complaining about how the young woman’s mother wanted her to help run their family business booth at one such fair.

First, Sienna told the model that she should go support her family and report to her as well should she see any suspiciously feminine boys. The model couldn’t deny a personal request from her boss, but she was definitely confused by the odd task. Sienna would’ve gone herself if there weren’t other high schools likely throwing career fairs around the same time (and she didn’t want to exhaust herself with too much teen exposure).

Now here stood Sienna in one of the lowest high schools on her list, two weeks after her hasty decision to actually run a booth. As a woman of high fashion, she would’ve never dared to step one heel into such a dingy, low-income public high, but her barren results had made her desperate. At the very least, some of her best models came from the lesser parts of her state anyway, so who was she to judge a book by its cover?

And it was in the long-since outdated gymnasium that she saw not just one, but two teen boys who tickled her senses. Two friends wandering the minefield and pausing every-so-often to ogle her colorful stand after each booth they chanced. Surely they didn’t think she’d miss how many times they looked her way? The darker-skinned one would whisper into his pale friend’s ear, and he would nod along or tug at his dress shirt’s collar.

Despite their obvious evasion, Sienna still saw it as a potential win because the longer they lingered in the open space, the more time she had to study them. The retired model deduced that the boys typically wore baggy clothes on the regular because of their clear discomfort in their too-small button downs and slacks. Their parents probably couldn’t afford to get them new dress wear just for one small event, so they squeezed into what was most likely their only nice option to begin with, now several years old.

What was unfortunate for the boys was good luck for Sienna because she got to see the outline of their bodies: their slim waists, wide hips, bared necks—wait a minute. Their necks were bare? Even though her omega senses were going wild, studying their necks up close could give her the final answer she needed!

If they weren’t going to cross the trench and approach her booth, then she would have to come to them. Sienna stepped around the pink-covered table and waded through the crowd, prepping her best welcoming smile. If Charlotte hadn’t been there to handle the ridiculous influx of hopeful ladies in her place, Sienna would’ve lost this prime opportunity.

“Hello there, gentlemen,” Sienna said with a honeyed tone, stopping in front of the boys. The pale one, undeniably Asian now that the retired model was awarded a closer look, gripped the sleeve of his Hispanic friend’s dress shirt and avoided her gaze. Although he hid his face behind large frames, Sienna found all the proof she required when she saw the extra gland on the side of his exposed neck, just barely poking out.

Should’ve worn a tie if he wanted to keep his cover so bad, Sienna thought. The slightly taller friend fixed her with a curious expression and held his chin high, abnormally glossy lips pursed, which also happened to be a distinct omegan trait. The teen exposed his own neck to her as a result, subsequently confirming her suspicions.

“Why don’t you come take a closer look for yourselves?” Sienna said and gestured toward her booth. “I noticed your curious glances and thought I'd ease whatever worries you’re holding onto myself. So how about it? I don’t bite,” she chuckled and turned, certain the boys would follow.

Screw opening a “Teen Omega” and copying Charles’ stupid “Teen Alpha,” Sienna snickered and ignored Charlotte’s side-eye. I’m about to have the best bang OMEGA can offer, and I should hopefully never have to deal with immature teen omegas as a last resort just to be extra for a silly milestone. No, that’ll soon become Charlotte’s decision!