Page 16 of Toxic

Sean approached me a couple of times to greet me and exchange a few words… at one point, when we were alone in the hallway, he spoke in a hushed tone. "I know you've gained access to the Kingdom of Promises, maybe consider exploring other options? Since this one isn't available to you?"

I shot him a surprised glance. He smiled gently, and I sensed a slightly flirtatious energy in him.

"For now, I've got too much studying on my plate, but thanks for the offer."

Just then, Soren emerged from the lecture hall and turned toward us, but he slowed down significantly upon seeing me standing next to Sean. Sean glanced in his direction, then with a soft, almost sensual gesture, he raised his hand and slid it over my bicep.

"Seriously consider it, it's Soren's loss if he's turning you down. You're definitely the most handsome among all our patrons…"

I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks. It had been a while since I’d heard anything friendly directed at me, surely not after the day Martin broke up with me. I hadn't had much interaction with omegas or betas, mainly by choice.

"Apparently, I'm not handsome enough." I smiled with a hint of sadness, but Sean's hand still rested on my bicep.

It was a nice feeling, I won’t deny it, I missed human touch, but it didn’t spark any desire in me, so I wasn’t planning to propose a meeting with Sean, that's for sure.

Soren approached us slowly. I saw his gaze zeroing in on Sean's hand. It was weird, did I detect a flash of irritation in his eyes? Something… completely unconscious, something that slipped out from under his hostile facade?

"Oh, Soren, there you are. We were just talking with Skye about him joining the Kingdom of Promises. Personally, I think he will be a great addition to our patrons; there are only a few alphas on campus who match his looks. In beauty, he beats the hell out of that blond-dyed idiot…" And his hand moved toward my shoulder, stroking me lightly.

Soren pressed his lips together, before snapping, "So, sort it out if he's your type. As for me, he's in the bottom five percent."

There was a brief silence; Sean's mouth almost gaped in surprise.

"Take care, Sean, have a nice day," I simply said, then turned around and walked away, because as I mentioned—it didn’t make sense; you can't force people to like you, that was a simple and trivial conclusion. And I certainly didn’t want to go where I wasn’t invited.

***

Intense studying took over my next two weeks. I had to catch up, fill in my knowledge gaps, just to keep up with these classes. I spent a lot of time working on my Python skills, but was kind of pessimistic about it, though, because I really had a lot of catching up to do.

They had an advanced class here, and I was only at the middle level before. I even texted Finn Delgado since he helped me transfer. I felt obligated to let him know that I was struggling.

Finn responded: "Listen, from what I remember, Winter was great at Python. Maybe he could help you?"

Yeah… nope!

Finn was way too optimistic about my relationship with my beta brother.

"Ugh, I don’t think so. He’d probably say, ‘You’re failing at Python? See, alphas have no business in programming.’"

"I’m sure he wouldn’t. But maybe you should find a tutor? Check the Announcement Board or leave your own post. People will reach out if they’re interested in tutoring you."

"Thanks, Finn. I’ll try."

"No problem. Let me know if you still have trouble. I’ll see what I can do."

Finn was a really cool guy. For the millionth time, I wondered why he and Winter broke up, but neither of them ever wanted to talk about it.

While scrolling through my messages, I noticed with some surprise that being so wrapped up in Soren-related stuff made me miss some important texts from my dad.

One was kinda jaw-dropping—it was about my brother, Rain, who supposedly found his True Mate! From what I gathered, he was helping a rather bitter widowed omega with a complicated pregnancy. The guy had strong cravings, and his placenta started deteriorating due to the lack of an alpha’s energy. It turned out, they were TMs! Kind of stunned, I had a quick chat with Rain on Messenger and sent him my congrats.

I gotta say, the guy who was his True Mate was really a beauty—an ex-model, to be exact. Feeling a bit jealous, I tried not to dig too deep into their situation. No point in getting worked up about the idea of finding a True Mate, especially when I was into a beta. My chances were practically nonexistent anyway.

But the other news caught my attention even more.

Dad texted me that my other brother, Storm, got arrested and accused of sexual assault and abusing his husband! That was a shocker since I knew he was always super protective of omegas. But he was also a purple alpha, a rare kind among our subgender, the wildest ones, so I couldn’t rule out that there might be some truth to it.

For a while, I considered calling him. I even tried one time but disconnected. To be frank, I didn’t care that much about the outcome of his case. Storm and I were always at odds. Since we were kids, he’d beat me and Rain often, showing off his fucking purple alpha’s inhuman strength and bossing us around.

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