Page 2 of This Fate That Guides Us
“Those openers were fucking fire! Not as amazing as Candy Courage will be, but my dream girls are hard to beat.” Bea animatedly waves her hands around as she talks. She’s always a ball of energy when we attend concerts. Even more so when she gets to watch the band of female alphas named Candy Courage. She adores the dichotomy of their brightly colored personalities and the heavy music they create.
“They were captivating. Not just their music, which was remarkable on its own, but their performance too. I had to double-check I wasn’t drooling several times during the show!”
“I knew as soon as I saw Azalea announce Primordial Covenant would be touring with them, you’d be head over heels devoted to the band! You can thank me by making breakfast tomorrow.” She grins.
I snort out a laugh, rolling my eyes. We both know we won’t be awake until lunchtime at the earliest. Even if we somehow manage to get back to our dorm before one in the morning, we’ll be awake for another hour winding down from our post-show exhilaration.
Bea gets distracted talking to her dads behind us, so I pull out my phone and give in to the intrigue still plaguing my thoughts. A quick search leads me to Primordial Covenant’s social media pages. Most of their pictures are promotional shots from their performances and very few of them manage to capture the true essence of the band’s enchanting stage presence.
Looking at popular community boards, I find a few devoted to what they deem the band’s ‘lore’. Curiosity draws me down the rabbit hole of information. The more I read, the deeper my obsession grows. The level of creativity required to accomplish such an immersive performance is colossal.
Fate, a being older than time itself, carefully crafts each of our futures. The threads woven by Fate into our hearts and souls connect us to the people meant to be in our lives. Family, friends, soulmates. With open hearts and minds, the band’s music can act as a conduit allowing the whispers of Fate to be heard more clearly.
The string of posts goes so far as to include examples of their lyrics explaining how each song is meant to connect listeners to ‘Fate’.
It’s so fucking cool. Not only are they masked rock stars, they have an in-depth back story to their band deeply rooted in a mythology of their own creation. Their devotion to their craft is more of a turn-on than anything I saw them do on stage tonight.
The lights on the stage flicker to the pinks and purples Candy Courage is known for, reminding me we still have another performance to enjoy this evening. Bea dances excitedly, her joy bringing a smile to my lips.
Shutting off my phone screen, I tuck the device back into my pocket. Maybe one day I’ll see Primordial Covenant again. For now, I have another band’s music to immerse myself in.
CHAPTER ONE
NOW PLAYING: KNOWmy loneliness- Nevertel
“We’re free!” Bea exclaims, her arms thrown wide as she spins in a circle. Her parents walk behind us, laughing joyfully at their daughter. Today we graduated from Dillon Falls Omega Academy with degrees to help us pursue careers in the world instead of packing up like so many of the other omegas we’ve met along the way.
Thinking about the pack program sends a pang of regret through my heart. I can’t even consider trying to find a pack until my birth family, leaders in the anti-designation movement, are brought to justice for the grievous sins they commit behind closed doors.
If I mate into a pack and my birth father finds out, I won’t be the only one to face his punishment. He will destroy my mates with no hesitation. I will never be able to live with myself if apack is ever hurt because of me. The risk isn’t worth even a small taste of happiness.
“Stop with the doom and gloom, Oms,” Bea chides while she wraps her arm around mine. “We’re celebrating, not worrying about the future.”
“She’s right, sweetheart,” Bea’s mother, Shelby, says softly, linking her arm around my free one as we walk to their car. She and her daughter could easily be mistaken for twins. Both blessed with dark, curly hair and beautiful golden bronze skin tones. “You both have a plan for what comes next. Everything else is out of your control for the time being. So enjoy your success. You deserve to be happy about all you’ve accomplished.”
“We’re proud of you, kid,” Forrest, Bea’s omega father, chimes in. “Both of you.”
He’s tall for an omega, like me and Bea. We are all closer to six feet than most of the other omegas we’ve met. He looks like an ’80s heartthrob–or so his mates say–with dark brown hair that is shaggy on top and falls to his forehead. I’m almost positive the dimples at the corner of his wide smile are the reason his mates liken him to their teenage movie crushes.
While Bea looks like Shelby’s twin, she gets her attitude from her father. Forrest is a whirlwind of energy and sass. When I’d first met the male omega several years ago, I hadn’t been sure how my instincts would handle having three omegas in one house.
Growing up I was taught people of our designation were volatile, emotional creatures with no control over themselves and a deeply territorial disposition. Meeting the Powells quickly proved that to be untrue. Forrest and Bea both welcomed me into their house and hearts without question. I was the second daughter they were never able to have.
Their pack helped ease my transition into pack life. They showered me with kindness and love, compassion the depths of which I had never experienced. I will always be grateful for being placed with them after the DAU–Designation Activist Underground–helped me escape my birth family.
“Thank you,” I mumble. My cheeks warm beneath their praise. I still sometimes struggle to accept their freely given affection.
“Feed us!” Bea declares as we climb into the third-row seats of the SUV. “Then you and I have a concert to get ready for!”
I shake my head as we buckle in and join the line of cars leaving the academy. Her excitement is contagious and I can feel a smile stretching across my lips as I think of getting lost in the beat of pulsing music later tonight.
Staring out the window, I can’t help but remember the first concert we attended a few months after we started our second semester here at Dillon Falls. We’d gone to see Bea’s favorite band, Candy Courage, when they played a show in New York in the spring of our first year at school.
After their concert, Bea decided to major in business with a focus on music and arts management. A career driven by her need to get closer to the scene we both fell in love with.
I chose to pursue a degree in photography. Being behind the lens lets me showcase the world through my eyes. The hidden omega, forced to conceal so much of herself from the world, but still able to express what matters most. Still able to make a stand for what she believes in even if she has to do so from behind a mask.
My favorite shoots are always concerts and protests. Two events where you can see a multitude of raw emotions. Love, support, and passion. Even anger has its beauty if you capture the message behind the aggression.
