Page 5 of Toxic

"And this is Frank," Alvin showed me another beta's picture, but this one didn’t catch my attention at all. I frowned slightly, slowly losing hope. "Oh no, also not my type," I muttered.

"Picky, huh? Okay, bad news. That’s your last chance. Although, I wouldn’t really call it a chance. This is our… alpha-basher, Soren," Alvin chuckled, pointing to a face in his friends list.

"Alpha-basher?" I raised an eyebrow, lowering myself a bit to focus on the tiny, pixelated picture.

"Yeah, Soren is a whole other… world. He’s technically in our group, but he only does services for one of our beta patrons and for one omega. He absolutely hates alphas! There’s only one alpha, Don, whom he tolerates around, but I doubt if he even received one handie from him. Soren doesn’t do alphas in general. The thing with him is… he’s bitchy and never in a good mood. So, since you’re an alpha, I’d say he’s off the table. Slim chances of a hj and no chances at all for a bj."

I leaned in closer to get a better look at Soren and… froze, recognizing the guy! I'd only been at this college for two weeks, so I'd attended just a few lectures and labs, but I couldn’t miss this particular beta—I noticed him right away.

"What the fuck? I can't believe it; I know this guy! Well, 'know' might be a stretch, but I've had dealings with him." I grimaced.

"How so? Did he rub you the wrong way? Wouldn’t surprise me; he's quite the character," Alvin replied with a nasal-sounding chuckle.

"Yeah, he's in my major, and we have most of our courses together. On the first day, I tried to sit next to him, and he ostentatiously moved a few seats away. Another time, I said hi to him in the hallway, and he straight-up ignored me. And once, there were no other seats in the cafeteria, so I asked if I could join him, and he said he was waiting for someone. So, I ended up eating on the windowsill. And guess what? No one ever came—he just sat there alone at the table," I explained, frowning.

Alvin snickered. "Doesn’t surprise me at all. Soren can be impossible. To be honest, I seriously debated whether to involve him in our little circle at all, but his friend Sean convinced mebecause Soren has some financial troubles related to his late father’s medical bills. That’s the only reason I agreed, because that guy can be super nasty."

"I noticed. He was looking at me like he wanted to kill me," I muttered.

Alvin leaned in slightly and added in a confidential tone, "There’s a whole story behind that, you know. Sean leaked it to me, but promise you won’t spread it around."

"Sure, sure, now that I know so much, I can keep one more secret."

"It's an interesting case, kind of similar to yours and Martin’s. Soren dated one alpha all through high school—high school sweethearts, that kind of shit. They went to college together, and Soren was supposedly head over heels in love, planning a future together. They were about to get married! Everything seemed perfect, romantic, until one day his fiancé met his High Mate! He'd met his Half Mates before, but… he always chose Soren over them. It probably got Soren’s hopes up that it’d stay that way. But this time, his fiancé couldn’t resist, and he ultimately broke up the engagement. You know, the High Mate charm—the next best thing apart from finding your True Mate."

"Don't even talk to me about it," I muttered quietly, since the same thing happened to me. My ex left for his High Mate, although we weren’t engaged, but we dated for a year and a half, and I was pretty smitten with Martin.

"Yeah. He took it really hard. Sean told me Soren even attempted suicide, and then he changed—a total personality shift. Apparently, he completely stopped smiling, became gloomy, aggressive, and constantly sour. He transferred here from another college for his senior year, so you see, it's a very similar story to yours. Now Soren hates alphas and doesn’t trust them. He believes betas shouldn’t get involved with us at allbecause it’s a sure thing they’ll be abandoned sooner or later. Talking to him is usually unpleasant; he’s bitter and hostile."

I stayed silent for a moment, staring at Soren's photo. He looked quite unique, definitely different from the others and… very much my type!

"I feel sorry for him…" I muttered, still fixing my eyes on the picture with a strange intensity.

Since I’d seen him in person, I knew he was pretty tall, probably around 5'11", maybe even a bit more. Of course, compared to me at 6'6", he was still quite a bit shorter, but objectively, he seemed slender, with a harmonious, shapely figure.

On both sides of his neck, he had some black spiky tattoos that climbed up to his cheekbone and temple. His ink-black hair was shaved above his ears, fading upward, and long on the top and back of his head, reaching the middle of his back. It was kinda like a faded mohawk haircut variation, but with long hair on top and back. He also had a bunch of piercings—in his right eyebrow, the right corner of his mouth, his left nostril, and a whole bunch in both earlobes, all silver and some artistically shaped.

As for his face… It definitely caught my eye. He was quite pale, but undeniably intriguing, a very striking beauty. He had somewhat sharp, almost cat-like features, high cheekbones, a delicate chin, and slightly slanted eyes the color of a bright, stormy sky. His lips were the most beautiful—full and softly outlined, maybe even sweet, although whenever I saw them in person, they were always twisted in a contemptuous or haughty grimace.

"Feeling sorry for him doesn’t mean you’d want his services, does it?" Alvin asked with a raised eyebrow. "It's unlikely he would agree anyway."

"He's in my major, I see him daily…"

"Well, that’s true. He’s really into programming, and he’s pretty good at it. We both took a few of the same programming courses, and I saw how he breezed through all the assignments with ease. From what Sean told me, Soren’s been working part-time at DevApp for over a year already."

I perked up. "Really?! DevApp? My older brother Winter works there too, as a head of one of the departments. Wow, Soren must be something if he managed to secure even a part-time job there. I heard it’s tough to get an internship in DevApp, let alone a job."

"Yeah, Soren’s a real geek. Besides what he does for us, he never goes anywhere, always studying, doesn’t hang out with anyone. I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen him at a party. Only when there’s free food!"

"Interesting. If he works there, why does he need extra cash?"

"He is paying off the high medical bills of his dad. The man was basically dying for a decade after a horrible accident that left him almost completely immobile, and Soren inherited the debt even after his dad died. The insurance didn't cover everything."

"Damn, tough situation."

"Yeah, pretty tragic. Soren basically raised himself, since his dad was bedridden, but he’s fighting hard for his future. He already secured a promise from DevApp HR that after he finishes the year, he’ll have a full-time job there. With their salaries, he’ll pay off the debts quickly."

"That’s true, they pay their specialists well. I heard even junior programmers earn decently."

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