Walking down the street with her now, he could almost pretend they were dating. That they were more than just friends who were walking home after seeing a bad play together. It may have been a downright terrible play, probably the worst he'd ever seen, but that didn't matter. She had been there, laughing her head off, and that had made it all worthwhile.
It was the type of night he hoped would never end. But it was almost over. It was late, and they'd finally decided to turn in for the night. That didn't stop them from continuing the conversation on the way home.
Nathan couldn't remember what Eliza had said, but he found himself laughing so hard that he nearly lost his balance.
Eliza waved her hand upwards in a grand gesture. "Then the elephant came out! And it was pink!"
Nathan shook his head. "Why did they even need an elephant again?"
"Why not?" Eliza laughed, the happy sound piercing the silence of the night. "I think that was the theme of tonight."
Nathan rubbed his chin in an exaggerated show of mock thoughtfulness. "Maybe. Given the sea of orange balloons, the sparklers, the disco music."
"Plus the fog horn and the dancing pirates," Eliza added.
"Hey, that was the best part!" Nathan objected.
"You like the dancing pirates?" Eliza asked in mock shock.
Nathan shrugged. "Okay, not that much, but it was the best part. That counts for something."
"It was still bad," Eliza stated, as if this was an indisputable fact.
"Well, yeah." Nathan couldn't help smiling. "But it was all bad. Best of the worst."
Eliza laughed softly as they approached an intersection. The light was about to change. The crosswalk sign flashed orange.
"We can make it!" Eliza declared as she started racing towards the crosswalk.
"Do you have to turn everything into a competition?" Nathan shook his head, smiling to himself.
Eliza got to the intersection just as the light flashed, she stopped at the edge of the sidewalk. "Darn it," she muttered, stomping her foot lightly. Her heel clacked on the sidewalk.
Nathan chuckled as he took his time catching up. No point in rushing when they'd have to wait for the light anyways. With her back to him, she never saw him staring.
Her long dark hair fluttered in the wind, illuminated by the warm streetlight nearby. Her red dress rippled around her legs. Her hips were slightly tilted to the side, like they always did when she was annoyed.
Without even seeing her face, he knew she had on that scrunched up look that she always got when she was irritated. It was so hard to take her seriously when she did such a great impression of an angry chipmunk, he always struggled not to laugh at her. Her stature didn't do her any favours in that regard either because, even with high heels on, she was petite.
She turned back around to face him, her dark eyes sparkling.
She smiled at him.
The moment was perfect.
And it lasted for an eternity.
He wanted to kiss her. But he pushed the urge down. Again. This had become an automatic habit for him.
Eliza was an omega. He was just a beta.
He looked away from her, focusing on the stars. This was a moment he wanted to enjoy, he didn't want to ruin it with a confession he knew wouldn't be accepted.
Omegas were rare. A beautiful one, like Eliza, would surely have her pick of alphas. Alphas that he could never hope to compete against.
His smile turned false, but never left his face.
He stepped up beside her. The light changed.
Eliza stepped on to the crosswalk, utterly oblivious. "Maybe I should go into acting, I could do better than that."
"Or make up," Nathan suggested. "You'd be amazing at that."
Eliza smiled back at him. "True, but that isn't saying much. The make up was ridiculous!"
"I know!" Nathan laughed. "It looked like toddlers with finger paint had been let loose in the theater."
Eliza giggled as they walked past the closed ice cream shop. "That's too bad," she pouted, looking at the dark window in disappointment. "I could go for some ice cream right now."
"I do have ice cream at home," Nathan offered.
Eliza let out a disappointed sigh. "So do I, but it isn't the same. This place is the best."
Unexpectedly, a strong a gush of wind surrounded them. Eliza held her dress down as her black hair whipped around her head.
Nathan didn't get a good look at what hit his face, but he certainly felt the stray newspaper smack him. Before he could grab it, the paper was pulled away by the wind, off to assault some other helpless pedestrian. He raised a hand to his face to ward off any additional incoming projectiles.
As quickly as it had come, the gush was gone, the wind having returned to it's previous gentle breeze.
Eliza looked at him and giggled.
Nathan gave her a confused look. "What is it?"
"You've picked up a friend." Eliza pointed at his hair, unable to suppress another giggle.
Nathan reached up and pulled the sticker out of his hair. It was a cartoon hippo, like something from a children's sticker book.
"You should keep it there, it suits you," Eliza teased.
Nathan raised a disbelieving eyebrow as he flicked it away. Then he patted his hair back down, feeling for any other stray pieces of trash that might have gotten stuck, as they kept walking.
Eliza reached up to ruffle it, messing it up all over again.
"Hey!" Nathan exclaimed in mock protest. "I'd just fixed that.
Eliza giggled. "You just can't stand it!" She twirled around as they walked onwards, gesturing to the deserted street. "It's the end of the night, there's nobody around here to see it."
Nathan made a show of fixing it anyways, purely out of stubbornness. "Your hair is messy too."
"I know." Eliza grinned. "And do you see me rushing to fix it? Nope."
Nathan scoffed in playful disagreement. "So what you're saying is that the theater shouldn't hire you to be a hair stylist?"
Eliza chuckled. "No, they shouldn't. I'll have my hands full running the rest of the production."
"Even the costume design?" Nathan challenged playfully.
"Yep!" Eliza replied confidently.
Nathan raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you ever sewed in your life?"
"Nope!" Eliza answered cheerfully. "The costumes were just that bad."
Nathan let a small smile on to his face. "I'll be sure to put that in my review."
Eliza tossed her messy hair back. "Well, I'll put in my review that I'd never sit through that clown show again, even if my life depended on it."
Nathan recognized the alley they were coming up to as his usual shortcut. "This way." He turned down it without a second thought, something he'd done hundreds of times.
Eliza raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"
"It's a shortcut," Nathan explained.
Eliza followed him in. "But we've got to go see the next one they put on."
"I thought you hated it?" Nathan teased.
"I do!" Eliza bit her lip. "Still have to watch the next one. Too invested, you know?"
"I suppose they could get better," Nathan suggested.
"You sound skeptical," Eliza remarked.
"I am skeptical," Nathan agreed. "That was awful. They'd need a miracle to even get to three out of five stars."
Eliza tilted her head, debating internally. "Nah, it's not too hard to get from two to three."
"Two?!" Nathan exclaimed in disbelief. "That was clearly a one."
"Come on, two for effort. At least." Eliza had a slight smirk on her face. "Those kids put a lot of work into that finger painting."
Nathan gave her an incredulous look. "That's not-"
Eliza grabbed his arm all of a sudden, bringing him to a halt. Her casual nature had abruptly disappeared, replaced by an intense seriousness. Her muscles were tense and her eyes were wary.
Nathan followed her gaze to see that there was someone in the alley in front of them, in the shadows off to the side.
"You're being loud, you know." The stranger's voice echoed through the alley sinisterly.
"Alpha," Eliza whispered, her voice almost a whine. She gripped Nathan's arm tightly.
Nathan had always had a terrible sense of smell. Now that Eliza had pointed it out, he could make out the telltale bulk of an alpha on the woman in front on them. The large biceps, the arrogant attitude, the macho stance. He should have noticed it earlier.
Nathan took a cautious step forward. "Sorry, we'll keep it down."
"Really now?" The skepticism was dripping.
"Okay, well, we'll just be on our way." Nathan pulled Eliza forwards.
The woman stepped from the doorway into the middle of the narrow passage, blocking it. Her cigarette sat loosely between her fingers, embers still flickering dimly.
Nathan halted. "Look, we don't want any trouble."
The woman tossed the cig on the ground and stomped it out. "Then you shouldn't have come down here."
Eliza tugged at Nathan's sleeve urgently. "Let's go back. We can take the long way around."
They turned around to find their path blocked by two other men. From their huge builds, Nathan guessed they were also alphas. They were blocked in.
"We need to get out of here," Eliza whispered fearfully.
Nathan gave her hand a comforting squeeze. He spun back around to face the first alpha. "What's your problem? We were leaving."
"Our problem?" The woman bared her fangs. "You're the one who dragged this cute thing into our backyard. Where everyone could smell her."
Eliza cowered behind him.
"You think a beta can protect you during your heat?" The approaching female alpha sneered.
Nathan blinked in surprise and looked down at Eliza. "You're in heat?"
"It's starting," Eliza whispered back. "We need to leave now."
Nathan nodded in agreement. The alphas' behaviour was only going to get worse the longer they stayed here. "Get out of our way," he spoke firmly.
One of the men smirked. "You can go, the omega stays. We'll show her a good time."
Nathan held their gaze. "Not going to happen. Move aside now." He didn't actually expect that to work, so he seized the chance to push past the single alpha, hoping one would be easier to deal with than two.
But he'd waited too long. They were too close.
One of the men grabbed Eliza's arm. "You're not going anywhere."
"Get off!" Eliza yelled, kicking at him.
"Let her go!" Nathan yelled as he pushed the man away and reached for Eliza.
He got a hand around her forearm and was about to pull her towards him.
Except Eliza was yanked out of his reach as the woman slammed his back into the wall. Nathan let out a grunt of pain as the uneven bricks dug into his skin painfully. He kicked at her and she punched him in the gut, causing him to double over, breathless. To follow through, she slammed his head back into the wall.
Nathan slumped against the wall as the world spun around him.
"What do you think?" The female alpha glanced at her friend. "Another one?"
"He's pretty enough." The man looked him over. "Doesn't look like it'll take too long either."
"Get off him!" Eliza shouted.
The tall alpha holding her placed a hand over her mouth. "Little firecracker."
"Hey!" Nathan shouted, still dazed, as he tried to draw their attention.
It worked.
Nathan gulped as all three alphas, pupils blown wide, turned their gaze to him. "Okay, fine, you're stronger than me. Happy? We acknowledge that this is your territory," he said, unable to fully stop the bitterness bleeding into his tone. "Let us go now. We won't come into your territory again."
They glanced at each other.
Nathan felt his stomach churn as they started to smile.
The female alpha gripped his throat and pushed him up against the wall. "I don't think so."
Nathan froze. He wasn't being choked, not yet, but she was using enough force to make the bricks dig into his back again.
"See, there's a problem." The woman snarled. "There's only one omega and three of us."
"Yeah, I think we should have some fun," the shorter man agreed. "He could provide some entertainment."
"It'll put him in his place. Teach him to walk through our territory," the man holding Eliza added.
"Okay, but I want her first." The other two alphas snarled at the third.
"What?" Nathan asked, extremely confused. "What are you talking about?"
The one holding him against the wall turned her attention back to him. "Don't mind us, we're just deciding who gets to make use of that sweet little cunt of yours first."
Nathan stared at them in confusion. "But I'm a beta," he blurted out.
The alphas shared a cruel laugh at his expense.
Nathan felt a chill sliding down his spine.
She gripped him tighter. "Oh, you won't be for long."
The man behind her smirked. "Yeah, you'll be begging to be bred soon enough."
"He looks like the type too. The type that whines the whole time then begs that they can't get enough," the tall one chimed in, ignoring Eliza's futile struggles.
Ice started to set in Nathan's veins. He'd heard of bitching. The drugs and sex were supposed to be able to turn alphas and betas into omegas. It was dangerous, and incredibly illegal, but these people didn't seem like they cared about that.
Nathan instantly made the decision to fight. They had to get out now. He broke out of the alpha's hold and made a beeline towards Eliza.
He never made it.
The third alpha knocked him over, shoving him towards the open doorway. He tried to regain his balance, twisting, but he had too much momentum. For a split second, he saw the side of door frame.
Ancient wood splitting. Green paint chipping. Rusted hinges.
Then a sharp pain stabbed through his head. He thought he might have heard a crack, but he didn't have time to think about what that meant.
Eliza screamed.
His vision went dark.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi509S5tIQg
