Page 1 of Brandy Snap: Part One

Melanie

Igroanedastheshowerheadworked its magic.

I swayed my hips in time with the audiobook playing on loudspeaker, loving the way the water streamed down my thighs and bubbled around my feet. My morning shower was the best part of my day. And it always ended too quickly.

Lifting the shower head, I slotted it back into the holder before threading my fingers through my hair.

Tingles flooded through me as I stretched, pressing out my chest to let the water cover my curves. I arched my back as if I were an omega, asking for it with no control over my body. Completely submitting to my instinct to be knotted.

I moaned as I tipped my head back to wash out the last of the shampoo, savouring the last few seconds of my fantasy.

It was messed up; I knew that. But I also knew I wasn’t the only beta in the world that felt cheated by their biology.

I sighed as I turned off the water and prepared myself for another day of clearing out nests of perfect omegas with their perfect packs.

I hated being a beta.

No slick. Can’t take a knot. Well, not without lots of prep, and even then it was uncomfortable. No perfuming or alphas panting over me as I went into heat. I guess I was saved from periods like other betas. The doctors said there was something wrong with me after a car crash when I was a kid. I had to take pills to imitate a period cycle that forced me to bleed. But I wasn’t going anywhere near those again, not with all the side effects.

“Alexa, stop playing,” I said as I left the bathroom. The speaker shut off just as an alpha choked Amanda while she came for the third time.

Taken by the Rogue Alphaswas the best audiobook to get me going in the mornings. It was written by an alpha who was known for her omega smut, and it hit harder listening to it rather than reading the words.

A grimy alleyway, kidnapping, forced knotting—it ticked all of my boxes. And it helped pick up my mood for the rest of the day.

My eyes flicked to the clock on my bedside table, and I groaned. I thought I had more time, but I’d gotten too carried away with Amanda and her seven alphas.

I skipped to my bed where my hairdryer lay waiting, but my phone rang before I could even switch it on.

I groaned for a very different reason at the name that flashed up on the screen. Talking to my sister in the morning always ruined my day, but ignoring her ruined my evenings.

Swiping left, I put her on speakerphone and dropped my phone onto my bed so I could towel my long hair.

“Mel!” the familiar high-pitched voice pierced the air around me.

“Hi Rosa,” I replied, trying to hide my irritation. Sometimes even her voice just got to me.

“How’s it going?” she asked softly, already apologetic. “Sorry, I can’t talk loudly. Tommy’s just fallen asleep.” Her son was only two years old, but he was completely spoilt.

She was a stay-at-home omega who lived in our childhood home with three alphas who absolutely adored her. Which made the reason she called me even more irritating.

“I’m fine. I’m just getting ready for work,” I replied. Which she knew, and it was exactly why she had chosen now to call rather than after work, where I had space to be properly annoyed at her. “Why are you calling, Rosa?”

I raised my free hand, making a fist as I prepared for it.

“Well, look,” she sighed deeply before she started. “Andy is really ill again.” I opened up my index finger, marking her first excuse. “And Sam’s leg is still broken.” There was the second. “And Carl needs to work tonight.” Aaaand, there was third.

At least she was firing them off in quick succession rather than dragging it out, like usual.

I dropped my towel and swiped a sad-looking beige bra from the pile of clothes on my bed, awkwardly looping it over my fist as I waited for her other two excuses.

She’d be done soon enough.

“And so there’s no one to look after Tommy.” I had four fingers out now. She just needed to give me the last one, and we’d have a full set. “And he might have a cold. So I really don’t think I can visit Mum this afternoon.”

It was my turn to sigh as I lowered my fist and finished putting on my bra.

“What, really?” I actually managed to sound disappointed, even though I’d been expecting her call. It was why I’d gotten my session with Amanda in early. “But you said last week you’d definitely make it.” I pressed my lips together as I plucked my pastel pink maid’s dress from the pile, complete with a frilly apron.

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