Just A Taste
MxM / Omegaverse / Non-Shifter - One Shot
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I sat on the couch, my legs taken up the entire cushions. My apartment was sweltering. The ac was on, but it couldn’t keep up with the summer heat. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the glass and put it on my forehead. The condensation from the glass was cold and felt amazing against my skin.
Nothing in here was decorated. I’d rented this out last minute and every piece of furniture had been built. This wasn’t home, so I didn’t treat it like it. It was just a stepping stone. A place to hide until I could figure something out.
Sighing, I should get up and eat something but it was so hot. I wanted to melt into couch. There was no way I was checking how hot it was in here. It didn’t help that I was running hotter than normal so on top of that.
My eyes slid shut and I felt my exhaustion set in. A soft touch ran across my cheek. Shaking my head, I felt my heart race. This was a dream. Slowly, I opened my eyes and sure enough, Luke sat on the couch next to me.
Him not being in his full suit was the first sign this was a dream. No matter how hot it was, he wouldn’t dress down in a shirt and jeans. His hair wouldn’t have been tousled like it was right now. He looked perfect like this. This was how I wanted him. Not the suit. Not the scowl. This soft look, as he brushed my face, that’s all I wanted.
“Owen, come home.”
I shook my head. “You’re not real.”
Luke’s face fell. “Come home.”
“They wouldn’t have sent you. You would have never agreed to come. This isn’t you. You aren’t here.” I turned my head to the side. “This isn’t real. You aren’t real.”
The softness of his touch turned painful. Luke grabbed my jaw, his nails digging into my skin, forcing me to look up at him. This was more like him. His anger was palpable. Suffocating me under the glare and snarl.
It stopped hurting a long time ago. My numbness to his attitude swept over me. After two years, I’d learned to become numb to it. Ignore it. Let it slide off me like water against an umbrella. Luke couldn’t hurt me. Not anymore.
“You will come back.” His tone angry, a threat lurking behind it. “You are mine, Owen. Did you think you could survive without me? You are my Omega. Mine.”
“I will be just fine without you. You are nothing to me!”
It was a dream, so I could lie to him. Luke was my Alpha, my mate, and my everything. We weren’t fated, sold to each other by our parents. He refused to accept it. Refused to accept me, despite going through the motions of marriage, marking, and moving me in. If there was one thing he valued more than tearing me down, it was his own reputation.
I chuckled, despite his full anger weighing me down. His reputation was going to be in tatters after this. Once the media glommed onto the fact his Omega ran away from home, they were going to tear him apart. Not to mention what Travis and I had set up to get leaked to the public.
This was my revenge. The one thing he cared about so much. So much so he was willing to mark me even though he washed his mouth out afterwards. After spending his rut in me, he nearly burned his skin off trying to clean himself. He refused to eat the same food, touch me, kiss me, not unless it was in public when he needed to build his reputation. Show the world he was a doting Alpha.
I threw my head back and laughed. “I hope you drown in your own actions.”
Lyle’s face contorted into a monster’s rage, but I jolted awake. My phone next to me on the couch buzzed and I rubbed my eyes. The pain in my chest wouldn’t go away, but it never would. I was stuck with it now. It was better than being stuck with Luke though. Anything was better than that.
Looking at the called ID, I sighed and answered it. “Trav, what’s up?”
“Sorry, did I wake you? Where are you? Is it night?”
“No, it’s just hot. I’m a couple time zones away. I’ll be here for a few months before I move on. I’m working on some paperwork that will take a while. What’s up?”
Travis was a Beta and my best friend. We had been since kindergarten. His parents thought that he might have been my fated Alpha, the way he protected me throughout the years. When his designation came up as Beta, I don’t know who was more disappointed. Him or me. We spent some time together after he found out, mourning the loss of what could have been.
Still, he protected me far more than anyone else. He was my savior. My parents probably wouldn’t have agreed to the mating, but they were the ones who sold me to Luke. They were after their own reputation and greed. Using my designation to get what they wanted. Unlike my other brother and sister.
“Do you have a TV? Or cable?”
Sitting up, I felt sweat run down the back of my knees and I grimaced. I hated summer. Winter really wasn’t much better, but the sticky and the sweating were unbearable. Reaching over, I grabbed the remote and turned on the used TV I’d ordered online. The cable box was more than I wanted to spend but since I was going to be holed up for a few months, I needed to stop myself from going crazy.
The screen lit up and a cooking show marathon I had been watching yesterday was still going.
“What am I looking for?”
“Just the news.”
I switched to the menu and scrolled through until I found a random news channel. The moment I clicked it, I sucked in a breath. Luke’s photo was in the top right hand corner of the screen. It was one of his more recent photos for a business magazine. However, he was sitting in the chair at the house. That day I’d been removed from the premises for them to do the photo shoot.
Turning up the volume, I leaned forward. My hand still held the phone to my ear, my other covering my mouth.
“…circulation of videos and photos seem to substantiate the claims, do they not?” A male anchor was speaking to three others at a table. “It seems pretty apparent, especially with the fact that his own Omega is missing.”
The woman frowned, shaking her head. “Why mark? We all know the marking was true. You can see it on both of their necks. It matches and it’s not something you can fake. An Omega can’t just leave their Alpha.”
She slid two phones forward on the desk. On the screen, one of the photos came up that was about two years ago. We had a photo shoot for another magazine. I was only in one of the photos and even Luke tried to argue that this was a business piece and I had no business being in it.
It was one of the best photos, I thought, that I had taken. The silk shirt complimented his suit beautifully and it dipped low, showing off a little more skin than necessary. My hair has been done and the fake smile on my face almost looked genuine.
The second photo came up was from a red carpet event a few months ago. Luke looked radiant as ever in his tuxedo. However, I didn’t look anything like the first photo.
He’d been harping on me that I was gaining too much weight, but in the camera’s eyes, I was nearing skeletal. No amount of makeup could hide the dark circles or the bruising around my neck. Though, the poor makeup artists tried their best. This event was sprung on us and we didn’t have the time to prepare like we normally did.
“What these photos show me is the deterioration of their relationship. I mean look at this two. An Omega normally wouldn’t leave, but if those videos are true, he’s lucky to have gotten out alive.”
“I actually spoke to the ones hired for doing their hair and makeup that night. According to them, the amount of bruises on that poor Omega were so bad that they couldn’t hid them all. They had to completely change his wardrobe for it. They had photos but under contract, weren’t allowed to report it. Not until this came out.”
Another image flashed and it was a photo of me. This one was from four or five years ago. When I snuck in a few modeling jobs to make some extra crash for myself. A smile snuck onto my face.
“When was the last time I genuinely was happy in a photo?” I asked Travis.
He snorted. “Those kinds? Never. I’ve got some good photos of us all throughout school. It was when we got shipped off to college that everything went to hell in a hand basket.”
“I didn’t even get to finish. Five years wasted. Five years and I’m not even back where I started. I’m up shit creek with nothing left but you and…” My voice trailed off. “I can’t do this alone, Trav. I’m scared. I’m not going back, but moving forward seems impossible too.”
“Owen…”
The photo dropped and went back to the table of anchors. The man on the far right had been quiet until now. He reached out, taking one of the papers and pulling it up in front of him. Everyone fell silent and looked over at him.
“I think this was done purposefully.”
The woman and another man scoffed, shaking their heads, but the other who had spoken first, leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
“The fact that Luke Alestor’s Omega went missing never hit the news. It was never announced. It was never reported to the police either. Why is that? Why would someone not think this was kidnapping? Luke is a high profile businessman with a lot of money. A kidnapping of his Omega isn’t out of the question. Would the Alestor family and the Gallion family be up in arms trying to find him? Or what happened?”
The man nodded. “Unless they knew and they didn’t want what happened to come to light.”
“Yes. In this case, the videos and photos that were received just hours ago, weren’t posted online. They were given to news outlets. They knew we could check the credibility of the photos and videos to make sure they were real. There are also multiple testimonies coming in to support the claim that Owen Gallion was abused by Luke Alestor. What’s worse is that this wasn’t a normal relationship. They were Alpha and Omega.”
The woman sighed and tapped the table with her fake nail. “Alphas are supposed to look out for their Omegas. They are the protectors. In turn, their Omegas are their guide and support. The two function together as a whole. If a relationship between an Alpha and an Omega devolves to this level, that Omega is lucky to be alive.”
Shaking his head, the man who had been quiet frowned at her specifically. “It’s not just an Omega, Giana. His name is Owen. That is a person, despite how some people treat Omegas, Owen is a child. Sold to the Alestor’s at eighteen. He’s only twenty-four years old. That boy has more courage than most would be in his situation.”
Travis chuckled. “Ready?”
I hummed. “For what?”
They had started to speak over each other again, but then they went silent. Three of them put their hands to their ears and their eyes widened. The man on the far right leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing over his chest.
“This just in. We received the information, as well as a security video from the hospital. Owen Gallion was in the hospital, his ribs broken, and multiple bruises with the worry of internal bleeding.” The woman looked up at the camera. “It was confirmed that he was pregnant at the time. His escape was directly from the hospital. Disappearing into an unmarked van, Owen Gallion disappeared on Friday, June 4th and still has not been located.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Did you just send them the info?”
Travis chuckled. “Yes. I wanted to see how they reacted first to the news and how I delivered everything else depended on that.”
“Well, if there is one thing for sure…” One of the male anchors spoke. “Luke Alestor deserves the storm that’s about to hit. He had the chance to be on top of the world. Instead, he’s going to be destroyed by his own hand.”
Turing down the sound, I chuckled. “The one thing that mattered to him most…”
“Ruined by the person who should have mattered most.” Travis finished for me. “You okay?”
“Yeah.”
I paused, staring at the TV. They had put up the previous photo of Luke on the screen. My Alpha. The man I was sold to and who hated me. I’d been destroyed, abused, and abandoned. Over and over again over the last five years.
Now, I was finally free. I’d be free of him. In turn, he was free of me, and while he didn’t deserve that freedom, he would get it.
“I am. I’m done. I can heal. I don’t have to be scared every time someone reaches out to me. I don’t need to worry about eating more than a cube of cheese. I don’t need to always be ready to leave my own house. I’m free. That already makes everything better.”
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