by D. J. Heart
Derek was proud.
“You can visit your friends, Scott. I don’t want you to stop having friends. Just make sure you behave yourself with them.”
Scott smiled, looking relieved and happy. Derek’s inner alpha was thrilled to be the cause, and Derek congratulated himself on doing such a good job with his omega and handling him so well.
“Thank you,” Scott said, sitting up and wincing as his battered hole protested. Derek chuckled. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing up. He was naked, cock plump and heavy, shiny with Scott’s slick and his own come.
“Sore?” he asked, stretching his arms over his head.
Scott nodded, smiling sheepishly. He sat back with his back against the headboard, watching Derek’s muscular body with poorly disguised interest. Liking the attention, Derek casually walked over to the pull up bar over the bedroom door and started doing chin-ups.
Scott watched him, breathing heavily, and by the time Derek had built up a sweat the omega was jerking himself off under the sheets.
It made Derek incredibly happy that Scott found him attractive, that he wanted him for how he looked. It meant that Scott wasn’t just into him because of his scent, his alpha pheromones, or the bond. Scott was attracted to him, physically.
“Let’s get in the shower,” Derek said as he dropped down to his feet. A second orgasm sounded like a good idea, and he wouldn’t mind getting it in the shower from humping Scott’s soap-slicked body.
Scott pushed the sheets off his legs, jumping out of the bed and running into the bathroom with an excited squeal. Derek laughed loudly and hurried in after him.
***
Scott, still shaky from the way Derek held him tight and jerked him off in the shower, stumbled back into bed as Derek headed to work. He wanted to see his friends, but with no school there was no way any of them would be up at seven in the morning.
He could sleep for a few more hours.
The sheets smelled like Derek and sex, and though they reeked, Scott liked it. He pulled the sheets up over his body, hugging Derek’s pillow tight and burying his face in it as he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.
***
Three hours later Scott blinked his eyes open, feeling awake and refreshed. The back of his thighs were covered in dried come, itchy and uncomfortable, while the scent of sex hung heavy in the air.
He needed a shower, and he needed to change the sheets.
Pulling himself out of bed, Scott stripped the mattress bare and carried the dirty sheets to the laundry. His hole still ached from taking Derek’s massive cock, and he couldn’t help but smile to himself at the way he was limping.
Once the sheets were spinning around in Derek’s washing machine, Scott ambled back to the bathroom for another shower. Without Derek demanding to be soaped off and worshiped like some kind of Greek god—and without being pinned and jerked off until his cock was sore—the shower took only a few minutes. Scott had always enjoyed long showers, but now that he knew how good it could be, simply standing there just didn’t seem as satisfying.
Clean and well-rested, Scott got dressed and made himself a sandwich to go before grabbing his keys and heading out into his new car. Leaning back in the comfy seat, breathing in the new car smell, he wondered what his friends would think of his situation. Of him.
He’d been on suppressants, avoided spending too much time with strange alphas… he’d done everything an omega looking to avoid a bond should do, and still he’d ended up with an alpha more than a decade older than him that liked to lead him around on a leash. Who’d collared him. How did he explain that without sounding like an omega rights case study?
He dreaded it. The last thing he wanted was to see himself through Jackson and Ellie’s eyes.
But he had to get it over with. Derek wasn’t denying him access to his friends, telling him he couldn’t go to college, or that he couldn’t be a normal person, so he wasn’t going to hole up like Derek had. Derek was the boss of him, and he’d just have to make Jackson and Ellie acknowledge it and get them to move past it.
It couldn’t be harder than it had been with his parents, could it?
Except his parents would never give up on him. They would fight tooth and nail to be a part of his life, and he knew very well that they hadn’t even remotely accepted the way Derek treated him.
Jackson and Ellie, on the other hand… would they think he was some kind of pushover? That he had folded? Would they still want to be his friends?
There was only one way to find out.
Scott wasn’t close with many people. He didn’t have heaps of friends, but the ones he had were important to him. He, Jackson, and Ellie had met in preschool, and, with the exception of third grade—which they did not talk about—had been inseparable ever since. It never mattered that Jackson was an alpha, Ellie a beta, and Scott an omega. They fit.
Scott didn't want to lose that.
Pulling out of his driveway, Scott knew there was nothing he could do but face the music.
***
“Scott!” Ellie screamed from the pool. Jackson shot out of his lounger so fast he knocked over the pitcher of iced lemonade on the table next to him. Scott grinned at the reception.
Ellie’s mom had answered the door. She’d taken one look at his collar, frowned, then smiled and acted like everything was normal. She’d invited him in, telling him that Ellie and Jackson were out back in the pool. Scott had been nervous as hell as he walked through the house to get to the backyard and pool, but that was forgotten as his best friends came barreling toward him.
“Oh my God! You’re here! You’re okay!” Ellie gushed, scrambling out of the pool and charging him like some kind of maniac. She almost slipped, falling into his arms and clutching him tight. Her hug was as wet as it was wonderful.
A second later he felt Jackson join in on the action, wrapping him up in his muscular arms from behind, hugging both him and Ellie tight. The alpha was dressed only in a speedo, body slippery and smelling of tanning oil and alpha.
Scott had never been bothered by Jackson’s scent before, but standing there, his friends hugging him like his life depended on it, the musky notes of Jackson’s base scent were deeply distasteful. The omega in him was screaming at him that this was not his alpha and that he should pull away.
Scott didn’t care. He pushed the weird omega feeling down, ignoring it firmly. Jackson was his friend. There was no way he was going to be weird and distant toward him just because he’d bonded. Derek might be traditional, but Scott was not going to be one of those omegas.
Besides… Derek had said he could have friends—could keep his friends—and Jackson was one of his best.
“Man, you reek,” Jackson laughed, stepping back. He was taller than both Scott and Ellie, every inch the classic alpha. Everything from his handsome face to his wide shoulders and narrow waist was like an omega wet dream. Except, not for Scott. Jackson had always been his friend, and with the exception of one very confusing dream in eighth grade, Scott had never seen him in anything but a platonic light. It had been interesting, all through high school, being the subject of jealousy over an alpha he had no romantic attachment to. He couldn’t count how many times he’d been accused of hoarding Jackson, being told quite indignantly that he should step aside and let someone else have a chance, Mazy Breslaw being the most vocal complainer.
“It’s not my fault. I have an alpha now,” Scott laughed, pulling away from Ellie’s death grip and untangling himself from Jackson’s arms. Ellie looked at him, gasping when she noticed the collar.
“What the fuck is that?” she asked, eyes wide. Jackson looked away, squirming.
Scott grimaced. “It’s my collar. Derek is big on tradition,” he explained. Ellie did not look happy.
“Would you make an omega wear a collar?” she demanded of Jackson, turning to him with a furious expression. Whenever alpha douchebag behavior was discussed, Jackson always found himself having to defend himself from Elli
e’s rage. It infuriated him almost as much as it amused Scott.
“Of course not, I’m not ancient,” he said indignantly, cringing when he realized what he’d implied, turning to Scott. “Sorry, no offense. I don’t mean that Derek is ancient… I just—”
“I get it,” Scott interrupted with a smile. “Derek is old school... and he’s pretty old. At least compared to us.”
“Do you like him?” Ellie asked, “I mean, I heard it was pretty dramatic at the party. Tina said Derek had to be sedated.”
Scott ducked his head. The party felt like a lifetime ago. Neither Jackson nor Ellie had attended, and he’d only gone because he was bored to tears sitting at home by himself. He wondered if he’d still have ended up with Derek eventually if he’d stayed at home that night...
“Yeah, my suppressors kept me from going into heat. It was pretty dramatic. He just pushed me up against the wall and gave me the mating bite, and I was like… dude, what are you doing? He was so mad when I didn’t go into heat, but he called 911 and they came and sedated him until they could flush the suppressors out of my system. It worked out okay.”
Jackson and Ellie stared at him, mouths open. They’d probably thought the story of his bonding to Derek had been exaggerated.
“But you’re okay now?” Jackson asked, acting all alpha protective. He put his hand on Scott’s shoulder, and where before it would have felt as natural as breathing, now it just felt wrong. He squirmed away before he could stop himself, cringing when Jackson’s face fell.
“Sorry, I—” he started, but Jackson waved, cutting him off with a sheepish smile.
“No, I’m sorry. It’s just… you have an alpha now. It’s going to take some getting used to.”
They stood around awkwardly for a few seconds, none of them sure what to say. Ellie was still dripping wet, getting cold without her towel, while Jackson somehow managed to make wearing an itty bitty speedo perfectly natural. People who said omegas were vain had obviously never met Jackson. The most annoying part was that he pulled it off so well.
“Are you allowed to be here?” Ellie asked, breaking the awkward silence. Her voice was low and conspiratorial, as though she fully expected the answer to be no.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just… you’re wearing a collar. Don’t most traditional alphas have like, rules and stuff that omegas have to follow?”
Scott understood what she meant. “I mean, Derek is the boss. That’s the main rule. He’s in charge, and I have to accept that. But he said I can have friends, and I’m still starting college in the fall… other than the leash and collar thing, it’s mostly about respecting the fact that he’s the one with the power in the relationship.”
“That seems pretty old-fashioned,” Jackson said. “I mean… you’re really okay with it?”
Scott shrugged, turning his back on his friends and walking over to the patio table. He sat down. Jackson and Ellie followed and took the seats across from him. Scott leaned back in his chair, unsure of how much to tell them. These weren’t his parents, and they wouldn't break his confidence if he asked them not to. He could tell them about the omega box Derek had locked him in. If he wanted to.
“Are you okay?” Ellie asked, sounding really concerned.
Scott made himself smile to reassure her.
“I think I can be. It’s just… I can’t win if I go up against Derek. I tried getting him to do things my way, and it backfired. But I think that as long as I respect the fact that he’s the boss, that he’s in charge, I’ll be fine. He just… Derek has this idea of alphas being superior to omegas, and he won’t let me get away with challenging that.”
Saying it out loud it sounded much worse that it did in his head. With his parents he had been trying to prevent them from overreacting or doing anything stupid. With Jackson and Ellie he could be more unvarnished with the truth.
“What do you mean it backfired?” Jackson asked, unconsciously puffing out his chest and making himself look threatening on Scott’s behalf. He looked like he was getting ready to go into battle.
For a scary second, Scott was turned on. Not by Jackson—that would be gross—but at the idea of Derek fighting someone for him, of taking on a challenger and defending his right to Scott’s body. Of winning him.
Scott shuddered. That was not the kind of person he wanted to be, omega or not.
“You have to promise you won’t do anything stupid, okay? I mean it,” he gave Jackson a serious look.
“Is it bad?” Jackson asked, frowning harder, Ellie’s expression matching his. “I could take him. You know I could, Scott. Just let me know.”
Tempting an offer though it was, Scott wasn’t stupid. Derek was a beast, outclassing Jackson in both height and weight. Jackson wouldn’t stand a chance.
Scott sat back, choosing his words carefully, and explained how he had tried to use sex to get Derek to see things his way, and how Derek had retaliated by going on suppressors and turning the tables on him.
“So he used your own tactics against you? And you what… just gave up?” Ellie asked, incredulous. Scott had to admit, giving up did not sound like him at all.
“No… I didn’t give up. Derek just… he took it further. Do you know what an omega box is?”
Jackson shot up, snarling, while Ellie just looked confused.
“He didn’t!” Jackson growled. He jumped out of his seat and started pacing back and forth. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to rip his throat out with my bare hands.”
“What’s an omega box?” Ellie asked, looking between Jackson and Scott with a worried frown.
“It’s torture,” Jackson snarled, stopping in his tracks and turning to face him and Ellie. Scott had never seen him this mad. His worry that Jackson might do something hadn’t been serious… had he been wrong?
Ellie turned to Scott when it became clear that Derek was too mad to explain.
“It’s this box Derek locked me in. He put me inside with a whole bunch of stuff that smelled like him, and then when I went into heat it was like… everything just built and built until I was out of it. I went totally feral. Couldn’t remember him taking me out or having sex with me or anything. I hated it,” Scott said, keeping a wary eye on Jackson. The alpha was practically frothing at the mouth.
“It’s a way to brainwash omegas. It strips them of the will to fight and makes them obedient. If you use it enough you end up with omegas who don’t even talk. You know, like the ones at those asshole alpha conventions where it’s all about tradition and omega training. It’s awful.”
Scott agreed with Jackson, it was awful. But it wasn’t illegal. Derek was perfectly within his rights to “box” Scott. Scott had to live with that. Fighting would get him nowhere.
“That’s terrible,” Ellie said, wide-eyed and looking at Scott like he was some kind of victim. Scott hated it.
“But Derek only did it when I tried to use the bond against him. He put the box away, and as long as I play by his rules he’s actually not all that conservative. I think he just likes to think he is. It’s really weird.”
Jackson had calmed down a little, but he still looked agitated.
The thing was… Derek didn’t act like the traditional assholes Scott and his friends used to hate. He had no problem letting Scott go off by himself, he wasn’t cutting him off from his friends or family, or barring him from having his own pursuits. Besides the collar and leash—and the omega box—Derek acted like any modern alpha. Scott could live with that.
“It worked,” Jackson said, looking disgusted. Scott blinked, confused.
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked.
“The omega box. It worked,” Jackson spit out, “before Derek used it Scott would have never just given up. That’s why the whole thing is so disgusting. It makes the omega it’s used on believe that being obedient—being what the alpha wants—is for the best. It taps into the instinct to please. It uses his heat against him to change the way he thinks. It’s… it’s
evil.”
Scott didn’t say anything, wanting to object but not sure how. He hadn’t changed the way he thought, had he? He’d just… looked at his options and decided the most sensible way forward.
“So what do we do?” Ellie asked, looking between Scott and Jackson as though they had the answers.
“I don’t know,” Jackson replied, dejected.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Scott said. He needed them to understand that. To accept it. He glanced over at the pool and lounge chairs, the water looking cool and inviting. He wished they could stop talking about Derek and just be normal.
“Well, if you ever need us to do something, anything, just let us know. Okay?” Ellie said, Jackson nodding along with her.
“I will,” he assured them, nodding too.
They hung out by the pool, talking about going off to college and being done with high school. Scott was relieved when after a few hours of Jackson and Ellie observing him closely, his friends seemed to relax slightly. He hadn’t changed. He’d given up fighting Derek—that was true—but he was the same person as he’d always been.
By the time he got in his car to head home—Jackson and Ellie admiring his new ride enviously—he felt much better about everything. His friends had been upset, but the idea of rejecting him hadn’t even crossed their minds.
Everything would work out fine.
***
Derek was surprised to see that Jacob wasn’t in when he arrived at the office. Derek had a new omega, so no one would think it odd if he was a little late, but Jacob had no such excuse.
Derek was on the phone with a client when Jacob barged into his office, glaring as he waited for Derek to get off the phone. He hung up warily.
“What can I do for you, Jacob?” he asked, wondering what was going on,
“You could get your little bitch under control, that’s what. Your little fucker has been putting all kinds of ideas in Mike’s head. I had to put him in the fucking box, he was being such a brat,” Jacob said angrily. Derek leaned back, surprised and confused. What could Scott possibly have said?