Page 15 of Trust No Alpha
“No. Your label alone is a temptation. And you may not be aware yourself, but your scent has developed. It’s neither Alpha nor Omega but something else.”
“But I wouldn’t be a temptation too my own family, would I?”
“You would be to anyone. We are a well-known family and your status is on public record. I have managed to keep the media from finding out so far. But someone somewhere will stumble upon the information. It’s only a matter of time before you, as my son, as a Vandergale, will be known as what you are to the world.”
“I could go out in disguise then, hide my identity.”
Father shook his head. “You aren’t listening to me. Even now, son, I don’t think you realize. You may not smell like a full Omega, but you do not carry the Alpha scent either.”
“What’s my scent like then?” For eighteen years, no one had ever told me this. No one had ever noticed.
“It’s actually sweeter than an Omega’s.”
“What?” Horrified, all my muscles contracted.
“Your eighteenth birthday is tomorrow. Your official maturity date. It will only get worse. And you grow more beautiful every day. Your scent is different, yes, but will only be more enticing as you hit full maturity. Not unlike that of the Sylphs. Not Omega. Not Alpha. But something else. An abomination.”
“I’m not a Sylph!”
“No. You’ve read about them, I’m sure. And the brain disorders that come with their birth and their condition. They are almost always institutionalized for life.”
“I know a little. But I’m not one of them. A Sylph?”
“No. You are different still. Which is why you must remain under my protection.”
Tears blurred my vision. It seemed I cried a lot these days. With reason!
I stood up and went to Father, putting my arms around his shoulders. “Please don’t do this. Please find a way for me to have a life. If you love me at all.”
I pressed my face to his chest.
I felt his body tense. He gave me one swift pat on the shoulder and backed away. He’d never been overly affectionate with any of us, but in my time of need, he showed almost less emotion.
“You must endure this, Kris. Survive it. I will see to all you need. I will expand your rooms, bring in exercise equipment, give you means to create whatever you wish, but it must be within these walls. It is for your safety.”
I sniffed and wiped my eyes, looking up at him. “What if my Alpha side takes over and I experience the Burn. I’ve been reading up on my condition. It’s rare and not well studied, but it’s possible I will experience it.”
“I will provide what you need for that as well.”
“What does that mean, Father?”
“If it comes down to it, I will pay for the discreet services of an Omega for you.”
The thought mortified me. But then again, I had known I would go to the chattel farms for my first Burn. It was the way it was done. It was expected. But to have chattel brought here to the house felt dark, seedy, almost criminal. It was done by Alphas, but not by Father. He kept all that apart from his life, away from his ordinary routines. As if the shame of the Burn might be erased, or at the very least kept separate, a dark secret in a dark cave for dark days.
The next time Father came I begged him to allow me minimal messenger access to my brothers.
He denied it.
Every day he visited, I asked for not things but connection. Could I have access to my tutors? Denied. To servants? Denied. To various online social groups under an anonymous handle? Denied.
He offered to redecorate my rooms in any way I pleased. He gave me tools for my designs, pencils, paints, easels, computer programs, and computers. But even if I made art, or became expert at anything I desired, no one would ever see or know about it. I could share myself with no one.
Within a month, my room expanded. Behind locked doors and firm walls I heard daily hammering, pounding, machines. When the extra room was presented to me with the double door entryway to it flung open, and I saw a beautiful area complete with gym and hot tub, I burst into tears.
My life was gilded, to be sure, but still a cage.
I had all these things, but most of my time I spent sitting by my tall bedroom window on a reading couch, looking out over the fields that surrounded the house, and to the hills and mountain ranges in the northwest that, at dusk, became silhouetted against fiery red and pink backgrounds.
