OMEGA X 

CHAPTER 02.1 | THE LESSON

“Give him another dose.” A man’s blackened face overlooked X. He smelt blood…and an ungodly stench. A nauseating sway overcame his mind and body. 

A woman in the distant hesitated. “Sir, another dose could mean rejection.” A brief pause was had before a thump interrupted the silence. 

“Why doesn’t anyone listen the first time?” His voice was deep, void of all emotion. “I’ll just do it myself.” 

X lifted his eyelids halfway as he heard ominous foot steps stride towards to him. He looks around, it’s all dark. The only thing he could feel was the cold metal of the table he laid upon. Suddenly a cold hand stroked his cheek. 

“You’re awake. Good.” 

X tried to squint his eyes to adjust his vision. No matter what, the man was blurry…almost distorted. But one thing he could make out was a syringe in the man’s other hand, he held it up.

“W…What are you…”

“Shhhhh.” The hand that had gently stroked his cheek moments earlier, covered his mouth. X weakly tried to lift his arms but realized they were strapped down, along with his legs. He tried to wiggle away but with no avail. His body was just too weak and the straps vanquished all hopes of trying to move. 

X’s breaths quickened as he saw the needle be pointed towards his pelvis. “Hmmm! Hmn!” X whimpered, his saliva dribbled through the man’s fingers. “HMM!” X felt the needle of the syringe penetrate his skin underneath his belly button, four inches of sharp metal stinging inside him. Then came a burning sensation that radiated deep within. The pain forbade any whimpers, any sounds to escape his now still mouth. 

“I knew you would be able to handle it.” The man slipped his hand off X’s mouth. His eyes faded in color, his body limp. His breaths soon became slow and infrequent. 

Tears fell down X’s cheek. 

The man leans down. “Don’t cry. You should be proud.” He stroked the tears off X’s face before his lips curled into a terrible grin. “You’re the only one so far not to expire. You are now worth something.” The man is heard walking away, leaving X to agonize in paralyzing pain.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Agh!” X shoots up from the bed. His breathing is chaotic, sweat pouring down his face. “Haa…haaa….” He wipes the sweat from his forehead as he tries to remember the horrible nightmare, yet everything was slowly vanishing. 

X flinches and looks up at the door, still daze from his nightmare. 

Dr. Kearse slowly opens the door and peeks his head in. “X?” He opens the door fully as he sees the omega fully awake. He steps into the bedroom but pauses once he sees X’s expression. 

“Are you alright?” The doctor rushes to his side. He puts his palm on the omega’s forehead. “Did you have a nightmare?” He sits down next to X. He takes his palm and checks his pulse as he looked at his watch. 

“I…I…” X tries to answer but is still dazed from waking up. Dr. Kearse takes X’s chin to lift his head up. He fishes out a small flashlight and points it briefly in both of X’s eyes. “Slow response. No fever, but you are clammy with cold sweat. You may be feeling ill from your midnight adventures.” He lets go of the omega, “I’ll keep an eye on your condition.” He tucks the flashlight back and studies X’s face, still crestfallen and pale. He swipes a strand of X’s hair back, “It’ll be okay. You went through a lot last night. You’re safe here.” 

A voice interrupts, “You two sure are getting along great.” Seok is standing in the doorway, his arms crossed. Dr. Kearse chuckles under his breath, “I think X was having a nightmare. He might have gotten sick being out in that storm last night.”

Seok gives an incredulous look, “Sure.” He takes a look at X. “Oi Omega,” X peers up at Seok. “You need to eat, then we need to discuss what the fuck is going on.” With that, he turns around and disappears out of view. 

Dr. Kearse stands up from the bed. “Well, he sure is in a great mood.” He rubs the bridge of his nose and mumbles something underneath his breath. “Anyhow, I wanted to come by and do a quick check and to let you know there are fresh clothes for you over there—” Dr. Kearse points to a dresser opposite of the bed. “Of course, they may be a little baggy, Seok didn’t have any that’ll fit your petite size, but we found some that shouldn’t be too bad on you.” 

X nods, “T-Thank you…Dr. Kearse.” he slumps down, still feeling the effects of last night and the ambiguous dream, or nightmare, or whatever it was he dreamt. 

“Take your time washing up and getting dressed, Seok and I have all the time today. Oh, and the bathroom is right through that door.” Dr. Kearse signals to the door next to the dresser before heading to the door. Before leaving, he glances back at X. “By the way, you can call me Aston.” He winks at the omega. X blushes and looks away from the doctor. Aston grins and closes the door behind him.

Finally, X is left alone to gather his thoughts. With a breath of relief, he slowly scoots to the edge of the bed. He looks down at the ground, still pondering what it is he had dreamt of. Just like last night, he can’t remember anything, only feeling that sickening dose of fear. X sighs and proceeds to the bathroom. 

The birds were chirping in the misty forest just outside the immense house. Seok and Aston are sitting in the dinning kitchen area near where the living space is, in front of them is a grand window overlooking the forest. Rain and wind hit hard window, swooshing and thunking against the glass. The tree branches swaying back and forth. Both men drink coffee waiting for the omega to come out of the guest room. 

“Sure is one hell of a storm.” Aston sips out of his coffee mug.

Seok grunts, “Perfect fucking timing.” He looks down at his mug. “Not only am I stuck in here, I’m stuck with you and a god damn stray.” 

Aston only smiles. “That stray is very fascinating you have to admit. He’s beautiful too. I wonder if he has an owner or is a loner?” 

Seok grimaces disgustingly at him, “What? Are you interested in that omega? God knows where he has been.” 

“Well, from initial body examinations and tests, that omega has not been touched.” Aston sips more from his coffee, overlooking the storm just outside . “It just worries me, his pheromone levels, the way he was running away, and the fact he is not marked in anyway…if he had an owner or if he’s a…” 

“A what?” 

X appears from the hallway that leads into the kitchen area where the two men are sitting. A black long sleeve shirt drapes over his small frame with the front being tucked into a pair of black sweat pants, the jaw strings tightened as much as they would go. His hair is wet from showering and clumsily toweled dry. X walks over to the island counter and sits on the barstool furthest away from the two. He glances down and notices a bowel of fruit and a plate with two pieces of toast. 

“You should eat light, fruits are great to get your body going.” Aston says. “Do you like coffee? We have creamer, milk, and su—”

“Black.” X replies hastily. His eyes trickle up to look at Seok, who’s sitting in silence watching him. As Aston grabs a mug to pour the coffee in, Seok places his down and sighs. “Listen, I am not in the mood to circle around what is happening. You clearly are lost, you have no identification and apparently don’t know, or refuse to tell the truth. It’s a bit skeptical you don’t know what second genders are, so it’s either you’re dumb as hell or you’re playing us.” 

X scoffs, “I’m not lying! I’m not dumb either…” he refuses to look at Seok now. Aston sets the hot drink in front of X, “Thanks…” he whispers. 

“Now,” Aston began, “I think it would be best to get a new set of pheromone levels to see if anything changed, then we can discuss what second genders are— and everything that goes with it. Maybe talking about it will help regain any memories, because from my readings last night, there is no way you could go this long in life with the amount of pheromones your body is producing without realizing what you are.” 

“Great, my first day off in months and it’s spent inside being schooled.” Seok groans. Aston lets out a frustrated sigh. “Just ignore him X. Now, let me grab my bags.” Aston walks away into the living area that X had awoken in last night. An uncomfortable stillness sets in between Seok and X. Seok continues to drink from his coffee. 

X drinks a tiny mouthful from his mug all the while looking down, avoiding any eye contact with the rude man across from him. Moments later, Aston returns with a large medical bag and a tinier bag in his other hand. 

“Now, Let’s get those levels.” Aston smiles. He unzips the tinier bag to reveal a device similar to an arm pressure cuff. “This sticks to the back of your neck, while this one is placed around your arm.” He shows X the device with two cords, one with a pad at the end and the other with a cuff. Aston proceeds to grab an electrode from the tiny bag and sticks it on the back of X’s neck, right above the shoulder Line. “Here,” Aston pokes on the electrode. “is where the gland that produces pheromones are.” He presses the pad onto the electrode. He takes the cuff and wraps it around his right upper arm and fastens it. “Simple as that,” he smiles, “I just now press the start button and my device here will do all the work for me, heh.” Aston presses the purple button and a small humming sound softly buzzes. 

X looks up at Aston as he studies the device, his eyes squinting down at it. After about half a minute, he takes out a small pad and pen from his pants’ pocket and scribbles something down. He repeats what he had just done. All the while, Seok peaks up out of curiosity to look at whatever the device is displaying. After the second round is finished, Aston disconnects the device from X and sighs. He turns around to Seok.“They’ve gotten higher.” 

“Bullshit.” Seok snaps, “Your fucking PH2 Reader is broken.” 

“Seok, I always carry two. I tested them both on him last night and you as well, both are working fine.” Aston exclaims. He turns his attention to the omega. “X, the numbers I’m testing are your internal and external presence of pheromones. Every omega and alpha have internalized pheromones and always a secretion of external pheromones that rise with emotions or being in a heat. Pheromones are a chemical in which omegas and alphas communicate…whether to mate, scare off others, calm their partner down, and so on.” 

X lingers in silence, waiting for Aston to explain further. 

Aston rubs the bridge of his nose, “Not to overwhelm, but there are three types of Alphas and Omegas. You have what we refer to as regular, then dominate, and lastly superior, Each one has their own benefits and also a downfall. Superior alphas and omegas have the strongest pheromone levels, however they are wild…need frequent ‘releasing’ of these pheromones due to the overabundance of internalized levels. Regular pheromone levels for a superior omega is between 4500-5000phL. According to this X, your levels are at…18500phL.” 

Omega X 

Chapter 02.1 | The Lesson 

To be continued in Chapter 02.2 | The Lesson