Omega, Suppressed

by Leann Ryans

  “The horror stories are just as true, I’m sure. It’s not the best place. There are some good things about your town being behind the times a bit. The market and the way people get to interact with each other is amazing to me. I just wish the people in charge were less… traditional when it comes to omegas. They are keeping omegas suppressed instead of allowing us to make our own choices.”

  “Me too,” Mindy responded before saying her goodbyes and leaving for the day.

  Once again Shailyn drifted off in her own head as she worked, barely even having to think about what she was doing since she had done it so many times. She enjoyed having the time to herself to reflect, but it also led to her snowballing small issues into something way out of proportion. Shailyn was grateful when her mother came to the back to give her some special orders for the next day.

  “You doing ok?” her mother asked.

  With the flash of a quick smile, Shailyn responded, “Yeah, I’m fine. How was Mindy?”

  Her mother’s features softened, and she smiled back at her.

  “She’s a sweet girl. And smart! She picked things up right away. I may even be able to take a couple days off here and there if she sticks around.”

  Genuinely happy, Shailyn agreed with her before her mother returned to the front. Focusing on the special orders, she was busy the rest of the day and was relieved when her mother came to the back to say they were closed.

  7.

  The next couple of days passed much the same, with Shailyn busy in the back while Mindy helped Shailyn’s mom in the front during the mornings. They would talk together when they had time for a break, and Mindy let her know that the two other omegas she had spoken to were interested in the pills. They wanted to talk to her and their families about them first though, before committing to making an order.

  Shailyn was worrying about finding time to get down to the post office when her mother came in the back with Mindy around noon.

  “Okay you two, get out.”

  Head snapping up, Shailyn’s wide eyes focused on her mother.

  “What?”

  Her mom chuckled and walked over to pat her shoulder.

  “You’ve been working hard the past few days and we were slow this morning. Take the afternoon off with your friend, and I’ll finish up back here.”

  “But…what about the front?” Shailyn asked.

  “Your dad’s out there. He’ll holler if he needs help,” she responded, giving Shailyn a push toward the sink. “Now wash up and go before I change my mind,” she said with a wink.

  Not willing to pass up an afternoon off, Shailyn did as her mother said and followed Mindy out the front door, waiving to her father as they passed through the lobby.

  “So…” Mindy said raising an eyebrow and smirking at her.

  “Well, first, I need to go send in the order for our pills. Do you have chores you need to do at home?”

  Mindy shook her head.

  “Nothing that can’t wait. Let’s head to the general store.”

  “But I need to mail…”

  “Yes,” Mindy cut her off, “and the post office here is part of the general store.”

  Blushing a little in embarrassment at not knowing that, she matched Mindy’s steps as they headed toward the center of town. When they stepped into the store, Mindy pulled her over to an older woman behind a wide counter along the wall, with rows of cubbies behind her.

  “Hello, Ms. Darla. We need to get an order sent off to the city,” Mindy greeted the woman when she looked up at them.

  Pushing her glasses up to settle them on her nose, she gave Mindy a sharp look.

  “An order to the city. Whatever for?”

  “I need to order more of my medicine. It’s hard to get, and I have a deal worked out with the pharmacy I used while I lived there to get it sent to me,” Shailyn said before Mindy mentioned anything about it being for suppressants.

  She could tell the woman was a beta, but she wasn’t sure how the older woman would react.

  Shailyn filled in the form that was given to her, using her arm to block what she was writing from the nosey Ms. Darla. Sealing it shut, she put the address of the pharmacy on the outside of the form. Handing it back to the older woman, she gave a sniff of disdain before dropping it in a small pile with other forms.

  “These forms will go out tomorrow, but we only get deliveries once a week and we aren’t expecting the next one until five days from now. If your order isn’t ready by the time they leave, it’ll have to wait another week,” she said, sitting back down in her chair behind the counter and picking up some knitting.

  When they stepped through the door to leave, Shailyn caught sight of an Alpha storming towards them. Assuming he needed to get in the store, Shailyn attempted to continue walking to the market, but Mindy froze where she stood. When she noticed the scent of fear rolling off of her, Shailyn took another look at the Alpha drawing closer and realized he was the same one from the market that she had saved Mindy from.

  “Where have you been Mindy?” he growled as he closed in on her, forcing her backwards until she was pressed against the wall of the store.

  “Hey.”

  Shailyn tried to reach out to Mindy, but Casir bared his teeth at her and let out a threatening growl that had her heartbeat racing and dampened her panties. Even her suppressants couldn’t stop the instinctive reaction her body had to an angry Alpha.

  “This doesn’t concern you,” he said before focusing back on the girl trembling in fear.

  “I…I’ve been… been working…,” Mindy stuttered out.

  Casir drew in a deep breath, about to yell at her, but froze, his eyes going wide. Leaning closer to her, he scented her hair, then her neck where her scent would be the strongest.

  A look of utter shock crossed his face before morphing into rage.

  “What have you done?” he roared in her face.

  His fist connected with the building behind Mindy causing her to jump and let out a squeak of fear.

  When he reached out and grabbed the front of Mindy’s shirt, Shailyn jumped forward and wrapped her hands around his arm, yelling again.

  Air whooshed from her lungs when her butt met the sidewalk, Casir giving her an angry glare before turning back to Mindy.

  “What. Have. You. Done?” he repeated lower, shaking her with each word.

  Pulling her close to him again to sniff along her neck, he slammed her back against the building, a pained cry escaping Mindy’s lips with the impact.

  Shailyn jumped to her feet, about to grab him again, when a wide body pushed her aside, blocking her view of her friend.

  “What’s going on Casir?” came Luke’s gravelly voice.

  Glaring at another interruption, Casir released Mindy’s shirt, though he still kept her pinned to the wall with his body.

  “Me and my omega are having a discussion.”

  Shailyn jumped forward and said, “She’s not his omega. She’s unclaimed.”

  Luke flicked his eyes to her before they focused back on the Alpha that was now emitting a low growl.

  “She would be if she hadn’t miraculously disappeared just as she was going into heat. And now she doesn’t even smell like an omega,” Casir gritted out between clenched teeth.

  This time Luke looked at Shailyn before focusing back on the pair in front of them.

  “Why don’t you give the girl some space, and you can finish having this discussion somewhere private,” he suggested.

  The other Alpha hesitated a moment before stepping back from Mindy, though he wrapped a beefy hand around her upper arm to keep her close. Beginning to pull her friend down the sidewalk, Shailyn panicked thinking about what could happen if he got her alone.

  “Wait, she needs to see a healer. He hurt her, you can’t let him drag her away somewhere she has no protection,” she said, grabbing Luke’s arm and pleading with him to not abandon her friend.

  With an irritated huff he called out, “You need to let the girl g
o, Casir. If she wants to talk to you, she knows where your smithy is. She needs to go to Gretta’s if she’s injured.”

  With a growl, Casir stopped though he didn’t drop Mindy’s arm. Shailyn saw his back expanding with each angry breath he drew in.

  Luke began to growl beside her as he repeated, “Let her go.”

  Casir pushed Mindy towards Luke and Shailyn, finally complying and stomping away. Shailyn caught her friend when she stumbled and almost went down. Mindy had one arm wrapped around her ribs and the other hand holding where he had gripped her arm.

  Luke leaned closer and scented Mindy before focusing on Shailyn.

  “Why does she no longer smell like an omega?”

  Giving him a glare, she wrapped an arm around Mindy’s trembling shoulders.

  “Because I gave her some of my suppressants to keep that asshole from being able to claim her. He’s too old for her and obviously abusive. I won’t leave her vulnerable.”

  He crowded into her space and glowered down at her.

  “So instead you give her unnatural drugs, probably without her mother’s knowledge, and caused a public incident.”

  Shailyn’s jaw dropped in shock. She couldn’t believe he was trying to say this was all her fault.

  “My mother knows and approves,” Mindy spoke up. “She doesn’t want me mated to him either.”

  Face drawn with pain, she tried to straighten herself up to defend Shailyn.

  “That sorry excuse for an Alpha is who caused this incident, coming after Mindy like he owns her, and then slamming her into the wall! Yet you just let him walk away so he can corner her again, while you stand here and lecture us,” Shailyn yelled at him.

  Eyes narrowed, he let out a warning growl.

  “I will deal with him later, but this whole thing would have been avoided if you hadn’t convinced her to take those vile pills.”

  With a huff, Shailyn began to pull Mindy past Luke.

  “This whole thing would have been avoided if the Alphas in this town didn’t think they were Gods that never had to face punishment for their actions. Omegas are people too! We have rights! And if we don’t want an Alpha to claim us, that’s our choice. We shouldn’t be forced into a bond we don’t want simply because the Alpha is stronger.”

  “Damn it, woman, I’m not saying you don’t have rights. You need to think about your actions and how they will affect others. You can’t be spreading those pills to the omegas without pissing people off,” he yelled at her as she started to walk away.

  “Get pissed,” she responded without turning back to look at him. “Others have already decided to take them once I get my order in.”

  8.

  Shailyn helped Mindy up onto the table at the small clinic she directed them to. Gretta turned out to be a middle-aged beta who bustled them straight into the exam room when they walked through the door.

  “What happened?” she asked, washing her hands and pulling on a pair of exam gloves.

  “An Alpha grabbed her and slammed her into a wall,” Shailyn told the woman as Mindy tried to pull her shirt over her head.

  Helping her friend, Shailyn gasped when she saw the bruises already forming over her pale skin.

  “It hurts to take a deep breath, or move my chest,” Mindy whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

  Gretta had her sit up as straight as she could and examined the bruise over Mindy’s sternum first. Pressing on it as gently as possible, Mindy still flinched away from her fingers. She moved on to Mindy’s back and sides before she shook her head and stepped back.

  “You have some cracked ribs. I’m going to wrap them, and I can give you something for the pain, but they’ll just have to heal on their own. You need to take it easy for a while. Don’t do more than what you’re comfortable doing without pain.”

  Mindy nodded and raised her arms for Gretta to wrap a bandage around her chest. It wasn’t long before the girls were shuffling out of the clinic, Mindy unsteady from the pain medicine Gretta had given her.

  “Let’s get you home. Where do you live?” Shailyn asked.

  Pointing and giving slurred directions, Mindy told her where to go. It relieved Shailyn to see an older woman jump up from a table in the corner when she helped Mindy through her front door.

  “Hello, I’m Shailyn,” she said to the woman as she rushed over, eyes fixed on Mindy.

  “What happened?” the woman asked as she wrapped Mindy’s other arm over her shoulder and helped get her to the couch against the far wall.

  “We ran into Casir,” Shailyn told her.

  Her lips pressed together as her eyebrows drew down.

  “I knew he would be angry about this,” she said, seeming to speak to herself.

  “She has some cracked ribs and bruising. Gretta gave her some pain medicine that’s made her loopy,” Shailyn told her after they sat Mindy down.

  The younger girl slumped to the side before wiggling herself into a reclined position. It was only moments before her eyes drooped and didn’t open again.

  “It’s best that she sleeps,” Mindy’s mother said.

  Finally seeming to realize Shailyn was there, her eyes widened as she took her in.

  “I’m sorry, I’m Nancy,” she said, holding out her hand to Shailyn. “You’re Karen’s daughter. At the bakery.”

  Shailyn nodded and returned her tight smile.

  “I’m afraid that man will be the death of her,” Nancy whispered looking back at Mindy.

  Pulling the older woman in for a hug, Shailyn said, “Not if we have anything to say about it.”

  Nancy sniffled a little before gathering herself and pulling out of Shailyn’s embrace.

  “Thank you for bringing her home. I will talk with Luke about this,” she said.

  “He already knows. He’s the one who got Casir to let her go and leave, but it wouldn’t hurt if you demanded that he do something about Casir,” Shailyn told her. “I already did, but omegas don’t seem to carry much weight around here.”

  With a small smile, Nancy said, “Luke is a good guy. He’s scared off Casir a few times already for us.”

  Scowling, Shailyn replied, “He must not be doing a very good job if Casir keeps coming back.”

  “There’s only so much he can do. Until she bonds, Luke and the other guards are the only ones that will look out for her, and the others don’t seem willing to do much.”

  With a shake of her head, Shailyn looked down at the floor and mumbled, “That’s not the way it should be.”

  This time it was Nancy offering comfort.

  “It’s just the way things are.”

  Her eyes met Nancy’s with determination as Shailyn said, “Then things need to change.”

  With a glance down at Mindy before returning her focus to Nancy, she said, “Tell her not to worry about coming to work. She’ll still have her spot when she’s healed, but she can take her time to relax and get better.”

  Nancy nodded and Shailyn said goodbye before heading back to the bakery. She wanted to go find Luke and his father and give them a piece of her mind, but she knew herself well enough to know she needed time to cool off and think before she did something rash.

  The bakery was already closed when she got to it, so she walked around the back to their home. Her temper had cooled a little during the walk across town, but her determination to do something about how they treated omegas in this town had hardened.

  When she found her parents in the kitchen, she told them about what had happened. Her father’s expression became stony as her mother gasped in shock.

  “He will be getting none of our business,” her father declared. “I’ll order everything from the next town.”

  With that, he stomped out the door and left Shailyn alone with her mother. Her mom came up to her and wrapped her arms around her, asking if she was okay.

  “I bruised my ego more than my backside,” Shailyn told her, though now that she thought about it, she was a bit sore from her introduction to the s
idewalk.

  “I need to do something, mom,” she said, pulling back to look into her blue eyes.

  “I know honey. We will figure something out,” her mom responded before letting her go and going back to the pot she had been stirring on the stove.

  “You have about thirty minutes until dinner if you want to go get cleaned up,” she told her, and Shailyn gave her a weary nod, the long day crashing down on her.

  She wanted to help the omegas but besides supplying them with suppressants, she didn’t know what to do.

  Shailyn woke up when her mom came into her room a while later. She had fallen asleep in the bathtub as she tried to soak the aches away, and now the water was cold.

  Her mother sat her plate of food on the desk against one wall before she came in and helped her out of the tub, applying a cream to the scrapes she hadn’t even noticed on her hands.

  “I told Mindy’s mom to let her know to take as much time as she needs to heal, and we will hold the job for her,” she said as she sat down to eat, propping her head on one hand.

  “Of course,” her mom replied. “Eat your dinner and go to bed. I’ll take care of things in the morning so you can sleep in.”

  Shailyn heard her mom leave the room with her plate before crawling into bed and falling into a sound sleep.

  9.

  Shailyn moaned as she stretched the next morning, her backside reminding her of its brutal treatment the day before. She heard her parents moving around in the kitchen, so she knew she hadn’t slept in much later than usual. Her body was too used to waking up long before dawn to get to work at the bakery.

  She threw on a set of work clothes before stumbling to the kitchen, rubbing her eyes as the light assaulted them.

  “I told you to sleep in today, honey,” her mother said.

  “I did,” Shailyn mumbled, giving her a smirk before grabbing a bottle of water and heading toward the door. “And I will still beat you to the bakery.”