Page 2 of Happy Birthday, Omega
“Yeah, just a rough birthday, I guess,” she shrugs, embarrassed that he caught her in such an emotional state.
Bryce hums and scuffs his feet. He looks at the card in her hands and opens his mouth to say something, but shuts it with a snap.
“Ah, well, Happy Birthday. Maybe you’ll have a great one next year.”
He shuffles off down the hallway and disappears into her brother’s room.
She hopes he’s right.
3
Onhereighteenthbirthday,April Howard receives a card.
This time when she opens the envelope, a ticket flutters onto her lap for a play that night at the local theater. She’s sitting cross-legged on her bed in her new dorm in the resident’s wing of The Omega Academy.
After her first heat, her family requested that she live on campus. They said it was for her own personal growth, but she knew it was because she made them uncomfortable. After Experiencing their daughter in her childhood bedroom, moaning and pleading for an Alpha’s cock, was too much for them. So now she lives here. Alone. In this soulless room, surrounded by people who had no interest in getting to know her. Her teachers see her as a lump of unmolded clay, and her peers cannot overcome their biological distrust to extend friendship.
Bryce was wrong. This year’s birthday was even worse than the last. She received a brief message from her parents, and her Grandparents didn’t bother to call.
Happy Birthday, Omega. Remember, it’s always darkest before dawn.
She screws the card up in her hand, the image of cake and balloons distorting into a mess of primary colors. The message from her secret birthday admirer is condescending. Like a pat on the head, and it pisses her off. Why don’t they ever sign their name?
She tosses the card into the wastebasket in a fit of annoyance.
Later that night, she swallows her wounded pride and convinces a staff member to chaperone her to the theater — the academy foots the bill for the second ticket. She tries not to dwell on how rotten it is to be spending her birthday with someone paid to escort her.
The play is magical, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The whimsical costumes and eccentric set design captivate her from start to finish. When the curtains are drawn, April claps furiously and gives the cast a standing ovation. She can’t keep a smile off her face as she crosses the theater lobby to depart, the chaperone’s hand hovering over her lower back as they herd her through the thronging crowd.
“April!” A deep voice shouts across the busy room.
It’s Bryce. She hadn’t seen much of the younger boy since last year and his appearance makes her brain stutter. She was right. He’s presented as an Alpha.
“I thought that was you.”
April staggers backwards awkwardly, her senses assaulted by the pure strength of Bryce’s Alpha aura. He certainly isn’t the weedy little sidekick to her brother anymore.
Bryce’s body has filled out into defined, toned muscles with broad shoulders. His cheekbones are sharp, and his jawline is strong. He used to keep his hair shaggy, hiding his oversized ears behind a curtain of his black waves. Now, it’s cropped short, and he has definitely grown into his big ears. In fact, everything about Bryce isbig.
He comes barreling towards her with blinding enthusiasm, like a baby elephant still getting used to its size. Before he can enter her personal space, the arm of her chaperone snaps out and stops him short.
“Do not approach an Omega without permission. Step back, Alpha,” her chaperone scolds Bryce, the older woman’s withering glare immediately making him shift in discomfort. April knows from experience just how searing her disapproval can be. The cane welts on her upper thighs sting in sympathy.
“Oh, shit. Sorry,” Bryce stutters, and he takes a few steps backwards as requested. He bumps into an older couple, and his massive size almost bowls them over.
“Do not swear in front of an Omega.” The chaperone gasps, acting as if he has mortally offended April’s delicate sensibilities with his foul language.
April giggles behind her hand as Bryce fumbles with the older woman’s dropped handbag. So perhaps he might look the part of a big, strong Alpha, but he was still most certainly a clumsy sixteen-year-old boy.
Her chaperone presses her hand into April’s lower back to usher her away, but April plants her feet. This is the closest she’ll get to a sliver of her old life and she’s hungry for even a morsel. Bryce finally extricates himself from the disgruntled couple and returns to a respectful distance in front of her. Ignoring her chaperone’s tutting of disapproval, she smiles softly at Bryce.
“It’s good to see you, April. It’s been a while.”
He flashes her his familiar lop-sided grin with the single dimple dotted on his left cheek. She both loves and loathes the flash of his pearly white teeth. She likes that despite all of his physical changes, the old Bryce is still lingering in his smile.
Yet, the flash of his teeth makes her stomach flip, and an icy trickle of fear runs down her spine. As an Alpha, Bryce is at the top of the food chain and very much a predator. As an Omega, she’s more than just prey. She’s something an Alpha will kill for. His presence alarms her, and she’s suddenly grateful for the watchful gaze of her keeper.
“Yeah, good to see you too,” she responds softly. The room feels smaller than it did moments ago, and she can’t stop the instinctive feeling of being trapped. April’s body reacts without her permission, her shoulders rolling inwards and her neck bending slightly in submission.
