"No, don't touch that. It's ticklish, baby~"
"But you like it, right, my little heart?"
A soft, contented purr answered him.
Hoekk!
My stomach twisted violently, my head spun, and a single, hot tear spilled over my cheek.
I froze, my hand hovering near the doorknob. I couldn't bring myself to turn it.
The purrs and strange, intimate sounds of sweet talk were a nightmare unfolding behind the thin wood.
A bitter, undeniable reality.
My heart was a frantic drum against my ribs. I opened the door.
I wasn't trying to destroy anyone else's intimate moment. But the guy on the other side—
He was my boyfriend.
Click.
A soft, warm breeze brushed my face, promising a gentle welcome. But what I saw was anything but warm.
Not far from me, two people were locked in an embrace. Her white shirt was half-unbuttoned. His hair was delightfully messy.
They stared at me as if I were the most disgusting pest that had crawled out of the floorboards.
"What is this defective omega doing here?" Fina's shrill voice sliced through the air, snapping me back to the moment.
Defective omega. That was what they called me.
In this era, an omega wasn't a curse like a thousand years ago.
They were still considered the weakest, the dumbest, and unreliable, yet they were treasured.
The foundation of power.
The strongest Alphas could only be born from an Alpha and an Omega. That was why every heir desperately sought their omega.
A werewolf awakening as an omega was as rare as seeing a unicorn. A year ago, I was treated like a hot commodity as well.
I was the rare omega.
But I was lacking the one thing that made omegas vital. I hadn't awakened my wolf yet. I couldn't feel it.
Without a wolf, I wasn't a true werewolf.
I was defective, no different from a weak human, a slave.
Until now, I'd closed my ears to the whispered mocking and the snide remarks. I still had hope because I had Oscar, my boyfriend, the heir of the Sand Pack.
Now, it was all over.
Fina straightened her clothes, but her body remained clinging to Oscar's. I deliberately kept my eyes off her, drifting instead to Oscar's once-beloved, handsome face.
"Oscar, I don't need your explanation. What you did just now—I saw clearly enough. I don't want to ask why or how."
My gaze was searing with pain. Yet, he looked only confused and disgusted.
"Let's break up. Our relationship ends right here." Despite the tear tracks on my cheeks, I spoke with sudden, fierce determination.
I had seen enough. Enough!
But before I could turn to leave, Fina's voice shrieked again, "What relationship? Don't talk nonsense—going around saying you're dating my fiancé! He is my fated mate!"
I stood still, confusion replacing the pain.
Then I realized.
It had been one year since our relationship started, shortly after I awakened as an omega.
We had never officially told anyone. No one had asked, either. Oscar never asked me to hang out with his friends, never introduced me to them.
Now I remembered clearly. He never acknowledged our relationship.
When students from other classes brought it up, he always just shrugged it off. I'd thought he was just too shy to talk about it publicly.
Even though we were always together —him, the class monitor, and me, the class vice-monitor— it didn't arouse suspicion. Everyone just saw us working.
I had always believed people could see it, and I thought that for this past year, we were the perfect couple.
When I heard classmates talking about the supposed relationship between Fina Sanders and Oscar, I always believed what Oscar told me:
"She's the daughter of my pack's Beta. We are childhood friends. All of that is just a rumor."
I believed him. Truly believed him. Because Oscar was so good to me.
Was it all fake? Was it all just in my head? Was I the only one who thought we were in a relationship?
"No!" I screamed, desperate to anchor myself to reality. "You clearly said you love me, Oscar! Don't make me look crazy! I know it was real—our feelings, our moments!"
But it didn't matter anymore.
"You're such a good liar! But now, we are over. You can do anything you want with your fated mate!"
It hurt. It hurt too much.
My chest tightened, suffocated. The tear tracks on my cheeks demanded another flood of weeping.
But I was built for resilience. Since birth, people had been kind, but I was never anyone's priority. I was used to it.
This pain would heal, eventually. What I needed right now was to calm down and escape these two.
I finally turned my back.
Fina didn't speak again. Instead, Oscar was soothing her with a voice smooth as honey.
"Don't believe her, baby. Werewolves who don't have a last name always behave like that, trying to climb out of their dirty place using us."
Thump!
That sentence struck me harder than any physical blow. It was a vicious reminder of where I came from, of my place in this elite academy.
According to them, only those with a last name —the children of Alphas, Betas, and Gammas— were their equals.
There was a time when that fact had crushed me. But I had moved past it. It didn't bother me anymore.
Yet, coming from Oscar's mouth, the old pain tore open.
I turned back—again. Facing their smug, fed-up gazes.
I didn't flinch. I kept walking toward them.
"Stop begging for love from me, Clarissa. I only love Fina, my fated mate," Oscar said with cold determination.
I, too, walked without stopping, my own determination absolute.
Their haughty gazes became confusion, their chins dropping.
Slap!
My palm struck his smooth, white face as hard as I could. He didn't have time to dodge. He hadn't predicted this.
Now, he looked utterly soul-shocked. Fina, however, looked absolutely furious.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" she bellowed, using the full power of her lungs.
She lunged to grab my hair, but I dodged, taking a step back. Did she think I would stand still for her?
I spoke with quiet confidence before truly leaving:
"The ones who cheat and have big mouths don't deserve to be angry."
...