Over the next few days, Veo discreetly listened to the gossip among the servants and planned. No one knew what the highwaymen looked like, and all the omegas had been too far or too frightened to see. Their chauffeurs, likewise, had not been able to take a good look at their assailants, though they all agreed that one of them was an omega.

His hair wasn’t long enough for people to automatically assume he was an omega, but that didn’t matter. The most essential parts of the plan were a car, someone to drive the car for him and the appropriate footwear. And the longer he thought about it, the more viable his half-baked plans were. 

“Felipe!” he called.

The young, alpha manservant showed up breathlessly after a few moments. “Yes, sir?”

“Ah! I need you to do something for me,” he declared.

“Yes, sir!” Felipe waited attentively.

Veo grabbed his boots, sunglasses and his cane. “Go and get me a car,” he instructed.

Felipe’s aura flickered with yellowed concern. “Sir, do you mean to drive?”

“No, and another thing, Felipe. I will need you to drive me.”

“Oh,” Felipe’s yellow faded into green with relief. “Yes, of course, sir. I will bring the car around right away, sir.”

Grinning madly to himself, Veo waited until the door had closed behind Felipe, before pulling out the alpha scent block and a bottle of perfume for omegas. He sometimes pretended to be an omega on cases where an alpha’s presence would alert his targets. It happened quite a bit. Enough that he carried them around in his bag of toiletries.

He rubbed the scent block on his pulse points and sprayed on a healthy dose of perfume, sneezing thrice at the ensuing cloud. Then Veo snuck to the garage where Felipe had just gotten in the car and was almost about to drive it out. 

“Sir!” Felipe exclaimed in surprise when Veo slid in the back. “I was about to reach the front.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Veo waved dismissively. “Now just drive to town and make sure no one sees you.”

Felipe shifted gears. “Yes, sir.” As they reached the town in their Bugatti, Felipe looked to Prince Veo through the rear-view mirror. “Where would you like to go, sir?”

“Back to the palace,” he answered instantly. 

“Sir?” Felipe was utterly confused and grey with it. 

“Take the scenic route. And don’t drive too fast,” Veo told him.

Relieved to have an explanation for the Prince’s strange behaviour, Felipe made the turn and begin the trip back to the palace. “Very good, sir.”

~

Felipe slowed down accordingly when they were somewhat in the middle of the nicest and the most secluded portion of the road. He obviously thought it weird that the blind Prince would want to take the scenic route and Veo didn’t correct him. Any moment now, he expected something to happen.

It did. 

Felipe pressed hard on the brakes when a figure stumbled right in front of the car. “Oh, my god!” he half-yelled in shock.

“What?” Veo unbuckled his seatbelt. “What’s happening?”

“Prince Veo, please wait in the car. I will check what happen,” Felipe said worriedly.

“Felipe, tell me what’s happening now,” he demanded.

“Sir, don’t panic, sir. But there is a person lying in the middle of the road.” Felipe wrung his hands together.

“I’m not panicking, Felipe. You are. Why don’t you count to three before you breathe in or out,” he suggested, taking Felipe’s shaking hands in his. “Yeah? Let’s do that.”

Eventually, Felipe had calmed down enough to go and look at the very suspicious character lying on the ground. Veo could clearly see the orange halo of deceit and did feel bad sending Felipe over, but he had a plan. 

As soon as Felipe was occupied with the person on the road, Veo got out of the car. He tensed instantly when the muzzle of a gun pressed into his back. 

“Don’t scream,” said Dimitri. “And hand over all valuables now.”

Calmly, Veo replied. “I don’t have any.”

“Turn around,” instructed Dimitri. When Veo did, his assailant’s aura went pale blue with surprise. “You don’t look like an omega,” he commented unthinkingly. 

Veo frowned in offense. “Excuse you! It’s not my fault I was born this way.”

“Sorry, that was uncalled for,” Dimitri admitted. “Alright. Valuables now, please.”

“I told you I don’t have any,” he repeated. 

Dimitri grew annoyed. “I don’t believe you. Your shades look expensive. Don’t think I can’t tell.”

“Oh, so now you want to take the sunglasses off a blind man. What am excellent day I’m having,” Veo remarked dryly.

“You’re blind?” Dimitri was surprised. He swore the man before him didn’t look like an omega or blind.

“First, you mock my gender. Then, you make assumptions about my disabilities. I’ve never met anybody so rude in my life!” 

Dimitri winced. He did know better than this. But this omega was seriously throwing him off. Usually, they found him charming. “Okay, sweetheart—”

“Sweetheart?” Veo threw his hands up. “I can’t believe this. I’m getting back in the car. I can’t deal with this.” He made to get in the car, but a sweet voice stopped him.

“Dimitri, what are you doing?” The omega’s voice was low and smooth and so sweet to his ears. Now that was what an omega should sound like, Veo thought. 

He turned his head towards the voice. Behind the tinted glass, he saw Felipe’s silhouette lie unmoving on the ground and the owner of that sweet voice coming towards them. “Who’s there?” he asked. 

The omega paused for a second, then came closer. Veo panicked slightly. He was about to get cornered by the highwaymen if he didn’t do something. Before the ‘sweet voice’ could come too close, he twisted the gun out of Dimitri’s grasp and pressed it to the alpha’s stomach.

Dimitri and the omega froze. Veo kept the gun aimed at Dimitri as he put himself behind the alpha so that Dimitri was in between him and the omega. “What did you do to Felipe?” he asked ‘sweet voice’.

“He’s fine,” the omega answered. “He’ll wake up shortly.”

“Great,” replied Veo, “so will he,” and knocked out Dimitri with a well-placed knock to the back of his head.