Sous worked good hours at her job at the alchemy department at the university. It was higher paid and shorter hours which allowed her to get home ealier to spend time with her kids.
Her relationship with the Alphas were perfect. They would go on hunts with the local wolf pack, a small community but still a relevant one here in Faelock. The Alphas were also apart of a few extracurricular activities at the local schools and were excelling in them. And even though they had friends, the three Alphas truly enjoyed being with their sire.
Pamoen was different. She hadn't any friends, she had a stuttering problem, she had a chipped ear, and one of her canines stuck out more than the other one.
The Omega was silent around Sous, kept her head low, and generally did her best to not get in Sous' way. When Sous attempted to engage with her, Pamoen would keep her answers short, anything that didn't allow her to not talk for too long to reveal her stutter.
Things had gotten worst between them when Sous was forced to take Pamoen on their nightly hunts. Pamoen had gotten so excited, she scared off the deer. Sous was so upset with her that she snapped at her. She didn't yell but she did scold the Omega for being loud.
In all honesty, Sous didn't know how to deal with the Omega. She wasn't use to interacting with a child like that. She just found herself losing patience.
Kara and Pamoen were out bringing logs into the house for fire one weekend. Kara clapped her hands and wiped them on her apron. She smiled at her daughter, her red hair just as bright as Kara's own.
Pamoen joined Kara in the kitchen and after she had chopped onions, she went to Kara and held up a piece of paper.
"Apex Youth Program," Kara whispered. "Where'd you get this?"
"Puimo ga-gave it to-to me-me" she said. "She fo- found it in-in the wo-woods. Ca-can I jo-join?
Kara looked at the paperwork and turned it over. "Pamoen, you'd have to move to Canas."
The Omega shrugged her shoulders. "Tha-thats fi-fine. Not-nothing is he-here fo-for me any-anyways."
Kara's smile faltered. She studied Pamoen's face, the way her mismatched canine caught her lower lip when she was nervous, how her chipped ear twitched slightly.
The girl stared at her worn boots, scuffing the kitchen tiles. Kara folded the flyer carefully, pressing its creases flat against her apron.
Outside, wind rattled the shutters. She thought of Sous returning from the hunt soon, her impatient sighs filling the hallway whenever Pamoen spoke.
Pamoen walked to the door to take her shoes off, forgetting she had them on. Maybe she hadn't heard her mother to tell her to take them off.
"If-if I go, I wi-will get str-strong and si-sire will li-like me," the little girl said. Her words only made Kara bow her head.
Kara couldn't deny the way Sous treated Pamoen. How she tapped her foot whenever the Omega spoke, how she made comments about the Omega's outburst.
"I'll talk to Sire tonight and she what she says, k?" Kara said.
Sous had her mouth pressed onto Kara's neck as she thrusted into her that night. She got up to get a better angle when she noticed Kara's lack of...noise.
"Are you okay?" Sous asked out of breath.
"I'm not sure how to ask this so...why do you treat Pamoen the way you do?"
Sous rolled off of Kara and laid on her back.
The question hung heavy in the dim bedroom, thicker than the scent of sweat and sex. Sous stared at the ceiling's rough-hewn beams, shadows deepening in the corners as the last embers in the hearth died to ash.
Kara's skin, warm moments before, felt distant against her own. The silence stretched, punctuated only by the rhythmic creak of the old house settling against the coast's wind outside.
It wasn't malice. It was... a grating discomfort, like sand in a boot. An awkwardness she couldn't shake. The girl was a constant reminder of something Sous couldn't name, a dissonance in the carefully curated harmony of her life with Kara and the confident Alphas.
Pamoen's stutter scraped against Sous's need for efficiency; her hesitant presence felt like a drag on the pack's smooth rhythm. Sous clenched her jaw, the muscles tight. Admitting this felt like weakness, a crack in her carefully maintained control. She didn't like how Pamoen ruined the family's image.
Sous always wanted to be accepted amongst wolves, just wanted to live peacefully especially now but Pamoen reminded her of being an outcast, different, looked down on, and Sous didn't like that.
"She wants to apply for the Apex Youth Program, says she'll become strong and you'll like her," Kara explained.
She would be sent away and...Sous liked that. She liked the thought of not having Pamoen here. And maybe, maybe it was good Sous never met her son since he too was an Omega. Maybe it was better to have Alphas than Omegas. Yeah, she would tell Fednora to call off the search.
Sous gulped, not wanting to seem eager. "Maybe we should let her apply. Maybe it would be good for her. She doesn't have friends, gets made fun, talks weirdly..."
Sous was so eager, Kara thought, willing to send her daughter into the hands of Apex. Kara pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, the warmth of their intimacy replaced by a creeping chill.
Sous' breathing beside her was steady now, almost relieved, while Kara stared into the dark hollows where the ceiling beams met. Outside, the wind clawed at the shutters like something desperate to get in.
Pamoen's hopeful face flashed in her mind, that chipped ear, the crooked canine biting her lip. The Apex flyer promised strength, acceptance, a cure for stuttering-maybe. But Kara knew what thrived in Canas: cold discipline, drills that broke softness, and whispers of Omegas reforged into sharp, silent tools. She knew because she had been one when she had become a messenger. Sous saw an easy solution; Kara saw a surrender.
Canas was so big, if she got accepted, where would she be sent? What about Zhiliary? Would she have contact with the lead Alpha? It was a lot and Kara needed to think about it. Overall, she wanted, like all of her kids, for Pamoen to be happy.