Unknown Entity

by Aria Grace

I clear my throat and meet his gaze. “But if you want to talk about what happened, I'll listen.”

  He takes a deep breath and stares at his folded hands, resting protectively over his belly. “Both boys, both alphas.”

  “I see.”

  “They were taken before I even had a chance to really look at them.” His voice cracks, and he wipes a tear from his eye. “But it was probably better that way. I never had a chance to bond…”

  Obviously, that's not true. It’s clear he bonded with his babies before they were born and still feels pain at their loss.

  He rubs his belly lovingly, and I feel a small smile tug at my lips. “But you get to keep this one. They won't let any testing happen here, right?”

  “That's what they claim.” He takes a deep breath and seems to clear away his emotions. “These rescue houses are supposed to be our saviors, but only time will tell if this one actually is.”

  “Everyone's been cool to me so far,” I say, although the memories of my weird interaction with Curtis bring forth another round of shivers through my body. There's definitely something about him that I'm not comfortable with. I've never felt such a visceral reaction to an alpha before, and it's confusing as hell.

  “Yeah, but I'm working on a plan for if things don't go well here.”

  “What kind of plan?” I lean forward and clasp my hands between my knees, interested to hear his backup plan but hopeful he won’t need to use it.

  The guy just shakes his head. “It's not worked out yet, but if I take off, you're welcome to come with me.”

  “Really?” I raise an eyebrow, unsure I'm hearing him right. “Why would you say that?”

  “I'm a pretty good judge of people, and I can tell that you're a good person.”

  I choke out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, I'm usually a good judge of people too, but my instincts are a little out of whack today.”

  He laughs too, finally relaxing a little bit. “Yeah, well, I think we're all still in a state of shock, but once things settle down, it'll be pretty clear whether all their claims are true or if this is just a different kind of farm they've relegated us to.”

  I shove my duffel bag under the bed, deciding to give this place a little more time. I might as well get another meal or two out of it before I'm on the street again.

  “I'm Freddie, by the way.”

  I glance up at my new friend, Freddie. He’s watching me stash my bag.

  “We're you planning on going somewhere?” He flicks his wrist toward my bag.

  “I was thinking about it. But I might stick it out a little bit longer.” I kick off my shoes and cross my ankles as I stretch out my legs. “Like you said, I think I'm still just getting used to being here. I'm a little out of sorts at the moment.”

  “Did you have a plan in mind?” He tucks a pillow under his belly and stretches out across the bed, facing me.

  Do I have a plan? I haven't really given it much thought, but that would be smart. Maybe I can stay here long enough to earn a few bucks. That will make life a lot easier when it comes time to move on. I just need to stay away from Curtis. As long as I don't have to be around him and my nerves don't get all weird, I might be okay. “No plan really.” I finally respond after being introspective for too long. “But I got a weird vibe from a few people, so I'll keep an eye out. If things still seem weird in a day or two, I'll take off.”

  He smiles with an understanding gaze. “Well, I hope you do stick around for a little while. You seem like you could use a safe place to land.”

  A safe place to land?

  I don't even know what that means, but it's a nice fairytale he can tell his kid someday.

  4

  Curtis

  I can't stop from groaning as I drop into my plush leather sofa with a glass of scotch in my hand. It's after eleven and I'm fucking exhausted. I haven’t been volunteering at Omega House for very long, but today was more physically and emotionally taxing than every other day I've been there put together.

  Meeting all those broken and battered omegas makes me disgusted at humanity. It’s heartbreaking to see their spirits broken and their bodies barely surviving. Only the pregnant omegas are properly nourished. Everyone else was kept just barely alive until their next pregnancy.

  I think I lost at least ten years of my life with all the scares those toddlers put me through today. It sounded easy enough to take care of a couple little kids, get them fed, and put them down for nap. It should have been simple. But not with these kids. It's like they've been raised by wolves so far.

  In most breeding farms, omega children born in captivity are not permitted to live after their testing is confirmed. But the facility that was just raided also offered a marriage placement service along with an alpha adoption agency. So, as soon as an omega turned thirteen years old, they were auctioned off to the highest paying alpha. If they weren’t sold by the time they were fifteen or sixteen, they were added to the breed stock.

  It's a disgusting system that has been outlawed in every state, but like most laws, there's always a vast contingency of those who are eager to break them. I guess some would say the omegas are lucky because they all have the ability to procreate and potentially sire alphas. That makes them useful slaves.

  Unfortunately, since betas have more rights and generally higher status within the community, they’re more trouble to raise than any stable owner wants. In almost every breeding farm I’ve heard about, babies who test positive as betas are destroyed shortly after birth. Of course, the alphas are immediately sold to wealthy families looking for the prestige and status that comes with raising a family of alphas.

  I take a long pull from my glass and swallow, letting the burn slowly move down my throat. I swear I feel it straight in my balls. I've been half hard since I got in the car, and this is the first time today I’ve had a minute to myself to reflect on the incident with Max.

  There was something about him that left me feeling antsy all afternoon. Even the distraction of the kids and being pulled in twenty different directions at once wasn't enough to get him fully off my mind. Now that I have a few minutes of privacy, he's the only thing I can think of.

  And in an unusual twist of fate, I'm horny as fuck. I can’t remember the last time I was this anxious to blow my knot. It’s been years. But since I don’t get off on my own very often and haven’t had time to hit a club in a while, I guess my body is finally insisting on some relief.

  It doesn't take more than a few moments of internal debate before I have to unzip my jeans and let my cock out for air. I'm not one to sit on the couch and jack off, but the stress of the day has left me too tense to avoid it.

  With one hand firmly wrapped around my dick, I use the other to boot up my laptop and prop it up on a pillow next to me. It takes some fumbling with the mouse pad to pull up my favorite site, but I manage to come to a page of possible videos to enjoy.

  I tend to avoid porn because nine times out of ten, the omegas they use are not there consensually or kept in good health. They're usually kept in a constant state of heat so they can fuck almost nonstop until their heart eventually gives out—usually before they turn forty.

  There are only a few sites regulated to ensure consensual and safe coupling, so I stick to those. Each omega they film is tested regularly to ensure their cycles are not synthetically enhanced in any way and they can only be on camera for two days out of every week.

  I skim the categories and find myself stopping at a brown-haired man with blue eyes hidden behind long waves of silky hair. Those chocolately locks remind me of the man I met earlier today. For a moment, I wonder if it is him, and a boulder forms in my gut before I realize it’s not Max. The resemblance is strong enough that they could be brothers, but he's got a tattoo of the omega symbol behind his right ear that Max definitely does not have. I would have noticed.

  My slow strokes get me closer to the edge while I find just the right scene in the video to blow to. My movements turn urgent once the pretty omega on the
screen leans forward and opens up to his alpha.

  Something about the scene makes my balls draw up tighter, and my mind drifts to the Max. Again.

  What I felt in the moment of meeting him didn't seem like lust, but I was pretty distracted and unable to focus on what I was feeling. I still don’t know what it meant. All I know is my cock is thrusting fast and furious into my fist as if I was plowing into a real hole.

  When the alpha on the screen leans forward and drags his teeth across the omega’s neck, my orgasm bursts free, shooting ribbons of cream into my lap and across my chest. Images of Max submitting to me in such a way keeps the endorphins rolling through me for longer than usual.

  Although physically sated, there's still a niggling anxiousness that I can explain. I'm just not myself today, and it's annoying. Once I get back to Omega House on Friday, I'll have to seek out Max to see if he's interested in a cup of coffee. Of course, there’s always the chance he's just too badly damaged at this point to be interested in someone like me. But I want to at least try. If he’s not interested in me, maybe we can just be friends.

  Although I don't have the biggest frame that an alpha can have, I am definitely on the broader side of the body type spectrum. And at 6’3” and two hundred and twenty pounds, I tend to tower over pretty much every person who isn't a large alpha.

  In most cases, when omegas are rescued from breeding farms, they don’t want anything to do with alphas. One taste of freedom is addicting and not easily given up once it’s attained. That could be the case with Max. I feel that boulder in my belly as I think about him swearing off men for the rest of his life. If that is his choice, I'll respect it. I just hope like hell that’s not his choice.

  It's not like I started volunteering at the Omega House to find a fuck buddy. I volunteer there to help those in need, not to become yet another source of fear and anxiety for them. I just wish I understood this strange feeling of fear and anxiety within me.

  If I could just put a name to the emotion, everything would be simple to fix from there.

  5

  Max

  For the last few days, Freddie and I have stayed pretty close together, getting comfortable in our new environment and getting to know some of the other omegas. He’s lived with most of these omegas for the past five years, ever since he was sold to Roper & Associates by his parents.

  Apparently, they couldn’t resist the allure of $100,000 in exchange for their omega son. Since the family already had two alpha children and a beta, they needed cash more than they needed the extra mouth to feed. Especially a mouth that wouldn’t contribute much to the household as it aged.

  So, Freddie has been part of the baby making factory for a while and didn’t have any hopes of ever getting out. At least not until the facility was raided and he was rescued along with the rest of us.

  The fact that I was picked up was pure luck, although I’m still not sure if it was good or bad. Even though I lived at Roper and Associates, I wasn’t officially a part of their stable. In fact, most people didn’t know I existed.

  I found the facility when I was only eleven years old, but Tad felt sorry for me and kept me hidden from the rest of the omegas. As the beta in charge of room assignments, he had the unique ability to keep me safe. Right from the beginning, he took a liking to me and kept me away from everyone else. Instead of adding me to the pool of kids being groomed for auction at puberty, he tucked me away in a storage closet.

  It was scary to be all alone, but I preferred that to being part of the crowd. And since he brought me supplies and gave me a key to use a private bathroom when no one was around, I was in much better health than most of the other kids. He visited me daily but only for a few minutes at a time. So after about a year, I started sneaking out at night to explore the city.

  Sometimes I’d be gone for a few days at a time, but usually I was back before Tad noticed I was gone. I never interacted with the other kids, but they knew I was there. They just didn’t have the interest or energy to tell anyone in charge. So, I grew up in that storage closet, only venturing out into the world when the boredom became too much for me to ignore.

  When the raid happened, I had enough time to sneak away if I’d wanted to. But after so many years of being hidden, I was ready to face the world. Even if I don’t stay at Omega House for long, I feel like this place is a part of my life journey that I was supposed to visit.

  “They have pizza downstairs.” Freddie pokes his head in the room, pulling me away from my trip down memory lane. “Let’s get some.”

  I’m not very hungry, but it would be stupid to pass up a meal when I don’t know which one will be my last. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

  Once we have a few slices each, Freddie and I stake out a corner of the game room to sit and eat. As much as I hate being around other people, I’ve had enough isolation in my life and hate that even more. I feel an odd comfort being around others of my kind. Even though I haven’t been through the same physical and emotional trauma Freddie’s experienced, it’s nice to have a real friend.

  “So, have you made any decisions yet?” Freddie asks me every night if I’ll be there in the morning, and I know he’s expecting me to leave at any time.

  “Not yet.” I take a big bite and use the chewing time to decide how I want to answer. “I guess I am getting used to it here. It’s a nice place.”

  Freddie nods as he swallows his own food. “I was thinking the same thing. It would be stupid to leave this place and try to have a baby on the streets as long as everything is so good here.”

  “As long as it is.” My thoughts drift to the alpha I met a few days ago. Curtis hasn’t been back, so maybe I won’t have to worry about seeing him again. Just thinking of his name and picturing his face has the hair standing up on the back of my neck.

  “Oh, there’s supposed to be an omega job fair downtown this weekend. Do you want to check it out?”

  “A job fair?” I’ve never had a real job. I’ve earned a few bucks here and there cleaning up at some of the shops on the outskirts of the main strip, but it’s hard for omegas to get regular jobs. Those are usually reserved for betas because they’re considered to be more intelligent than omegas and don’t need to take time off for heat cycles. “I guess.”

  Freddie flashes a wide grin. “Cool. I doubt anyone will want to hire me right now, but it would be good to know which places are willing to hire omegas for after the baby is born.”

  I watch him rub circles over the top of his belly as he speaks. It creates foreign emotions that I don’t understand but don’t completely hate. “Who will watch the baby when you go to work?”

  Freddie nods to the open hallway, in the direction of the nursery. “Angela said she’ll start watching the baby after two weeks. Supposedly that’s how the minimum amount of bonding time they recommend with newborns.”

  “That’s cool.” Two weeks doesn’t seem like very long, but considering he didn’t get any time at all with his previous babies, I’m sure that time will be well-spent.

  “Do you know how to read and write?” My jaw drops at the invasive question. It’s not unreasonable for him to ask, but if I was illiterate, it would be embarrassing to admit in such a public space.

  “Yeah, Tad brought me workbooks and helped me with the basics.”

  Freddie just raises his eyebrow and nods. Every time I mention Tad, Freddie gets quiet. I know he has something to say, but he hasn’t said it yet.

  “What?” I’m tired of waiting him out. “What are you thinking?”

  He sighs heavily then leans back on the cushion. “I still don’t really understand your relationship with Tad. Like, why did he single you out? Why would he risk his career…and his life…to protect one random omega?”

  I’ve asked myself the same question a thousand times. I still don’t have an answer so I remain quiet.

  “No offense or anything. You’re a great guy. But there were always a bunch of kids coming in and out. So why you?”

  T
he accusation in his tone may not be intentional, but it instantly puts me on guard. “I don’t fucking know why me. Maybe I reminded him of someone. Maybe I caught him on a good day. Who knows?”

  “So, nothing more ever happened?” Freddie lowers his voice and leans closer to me. “Like, did he do stuff with you in exchange for protecting you?”

  “No!” I stand up, prepared to storm out of the room and maybe the house. “Nothing ever happened with Tad…or anyone. Ever.”

  Just as I turn to leave, I feel the same tension in my body I felt before. That blast of adrenaline through my body that makes me want to run. I just don’t know if I’m supposed to run to him or in the opposite direction. If my spike of pheromones is from fear or excitement.

  Curtis is here.

  I slowly turn and come face to face with the alpha I’ve been thinking of nonstop for three days. The man who terrifies and intrigues me at the same time. The only person who has ever made my body react in such a visceral manner.

  The air is heavy between us as I try to reassess my situation. Without the chaos of people and kids running around, I can feel and smell his intent much more clearly.

  Lust.

  That’s what his pheromones are projecting. Right. At. Me.

  Holy shit, this is worse than I expected. I’ve felt lust from other alphas before but nothing this strong. And my body has never wanted to respond in kind.

  Something’s happening to me, and I don’t like it.

  All hopes of sticking around for a while are gone as the reality of my situation sinks in. This man is going to take me whether I want him to or not…unless I get the hell out of here.

  I don’t know if he can sense my fear or if he just anticipates my next move is to escape, but he takes two steps forward, reaching out to me. “Max, let’s talk for a minute.”

  I back away from him, vigorously shaking my head. “I’m not interested.”

  “But, Max. This is—”