“Have you been here before?”

Polite small talk in the queue, how ladylike. As if they weren’t soon going to be bartering over her natural scent.

Elliott towered over her from the side, drawing appreciative eyes from all around. She sported lighter colours today: cream sweater and a white shirt with the top buttons undone. A hint of glitter hid in the crevice: a gold necklace of some kind. Her dark hair was more brown than black in the morning light streaming in through the coffee house’s many windows, it was brushed back, but the strands still fell into perfect position to frame her face.

River dragged her eyes forward, like her. “No, I usually hang out at the Cedar Café.” She added in a hushed tone, “it’s a bit more student-budget friendly.” She could tell simply from the décor that she did not have a student loan that could afford this place regularly. All the signs boasted fair trade beans and organic leaves and milk from cows that had personal dressing rooms. At Cedar Café the signs asked students not to put their feet on the seats. Even the others in the queue added to the high-end appearance of the place: designer handbags, logo’d shoes and heavy coats that all looked like they were on their first wear. River and her colourful, embroidered jeans did not fit in.

Elliott quirked a brow. “You don’t need to worry about that here.”

River started. “I don’t need you to pay for me!” she hissed.

Elliott finally broke her staring contest with the decorative bags of coffee beans to look at her. Her face was full of offence. “I’m not offering, I’m telling you that I’m paying.” She pressed her hand into River’s lower back and shuffled her forwards along with the people in front. “You’re wearing my scent, I can’t have people seeing you pay for yourself. Have some respect for my reputation.”

Her and this damn reputa-

The line shifted again and suddenly they were at the front. “What can I get you?” asked a submissive barista with her hair tied back in a low ponytail.

River frowned, feeling scolded. “I’ll have a tap water, please.”

“One americano and one herbal tea, please.”

River flashed her eyes at her.

“Which tea?”

Elliott glanced down at River but she simply scowled back at her. “Whichever you recommend,” she answered, silky smooth.

The barista smiled and locked her eyes on her hands, fiddling with paper cups.

“To have in, please,” Elliott added.

She dropped the cups and pushed them away. “Oh, of course. That will be eleven pounds and eighty pence, please.”

River almost fainted. Eleven pounds on two drinks. That was eleven pot noodles. Four pots of chamomile from her preferred café - with change left over. Elliott tapped her card and sent her to find them a quiet table. River did so only because she didn’t want to stand awkwardly at the counter waiting for their drinks while trying not to repeat the price out loud.

She found a tucked-away booth and slid in. The yummy mummies and business women all gave the spot a wide berth once she was in it. Her fading scent probably implied this was about to be a very emotional let’s-get-back-together talk. Good, River thought, stay away so you don’t hear the humiliating thing I’m about to ask for.

Elliott placed the drinks in the centre of the table and took the opposite side.

“So, you want more?” Her victorious grin almost sent River back out the front door.

River pouted into her tea. It smelled of lavender and honey and was served in a delicate tea cup with wild flowers printed around the rim. Delightful. “The fade sucks.”

“Yeah, well, what goes up must come down at some point.” She dragged the enormous inky blue mug that held her coffee towards her.

River raised a brow. “Having your scent isn’t as much of a high as you seem to think it is.”

“And yet, here you are looking for an extension.” She took a short sip, but her eyes remained on River. The mug didn’t exactly match them, but it was close enough that it mesmerised her for a moment.

“I just don’t want to deal with the… low.”

Elliott chuckled. “Shit, you sound like an addict.”

“It’s not me, it’s everyone else!” she argued. “They’re acting like a scent fade is a terminal diagnosis or something. They think I’m in bits, that my life is over, that I’m heartbroken.”

“As you should be, I’m a catch.”

River gave her a hard look, she returned a smirk over her coffee.

“One more coating will take me to the end of the term,” she reasoned, hating how desperate she sounded, “then I can let it fade out at home where no one will treat me like a victim of love just because I used to smell like you.”

“A good plan,” Elliott cooed, her eyes half-lidded for a moment. She was enjoying this far too much. “But I have some rules.”

“There were no rules before!”

“It was the heat of the moment, petal. You asked and I answered.” She took another drink from her mug. “I’ve been far too lenient with you.”

Lenient? She’d been at her back every moment since putting her mark on her! River hadn’t known a day’s peace! Sure, she’d helped her out a few times, too…

River sighed. “Fine, what are the rules?”

“Going forward, you will play your part.”

“My part?”

“I can’t have an omega wearing my scent and pretending not to know me. Every time you refuse to call me your mate you plant the idea in people’s heads that I am going around scent marking anyone I see. That I force myself on vulnerable little omegas-”

“And your reputation…” River droned.

“Yes.” She turned stern, serious, it wasn’t as nice to look at. “One of us has one, and I won’t let it be tainted over our silly game.”

“I have a reputation, too!”

“Sure, for being a pushover.” River’s mouth fell open, but before she could use it to argue, Elliott continued, “If you want my scent a second time then you will act as an alpha mate.”

“I don’t know how to be an alpha mate.”

“When we’re not together, act as you would normally unless someone asks about me. You tell them I’m your mate, that you’re very happy and hope we one day get married and have lots of babies.”

River scoffed.

“And when we are together, you follow my lead. I take your hand? You don’t pull it away. I put my arm around you? You hug me. I give the cues, you obey them.”

Obeying a dominant mate… squeezed something inside of her in an embarrassingly good way. She’d never had a mate, but her heartbeat pulsed between her legs, assuring her it would feel really good to submit to them. And an alpha to boot? Top of the dominant chain? Her thighs twitched together.

Maybe it was a bad idea to start her mating escapades with someone so far from her in the spectrum… she didn’t have the experience to stay in control if she needed to. But that wasn’t what obedience to your dominant mate was about, was it?

She broke eye-contact, pretending to scan the room. She needed to think, to not be swayed by submissive urges. This was serious stuff - it had already affected her life in so many ways with just the scent alone. A bit of hand-holding wasn’t so sinister, though… River considered her words for a minute or so, taking occasional sips of her tea to stretch out more time before she had to answer. The flavour was lovely, soothing, filling her with warmth and ease.

“Then, unfortunately, in order to make this believable, you will need to pretend to be attracted to me,” she reminded her. They both had to act for the crowd. She would not be an omega desperately hanging off an alpha’s arm, making a fool of herself alone.

Far too fast Elliott replied, “You are literally born to be attractive to me.”

River blinked. “P-pardon?”

Elliott gave her a disbelieving look, sighed, and said, “Omega bodies are built to be bred, because you’re fertile as fuck. And alpha bodies are built to breed for the same reason.”

“You think you were born to fuck?” River giggled, checking their surroundings with quick glances. No one had noticed the weird turn their conversation had taken.

Elliott’s look turned stern again. A strict teacher driving home important information. “I think no one has explained some very vital bio to you.” Her eyes seemed to darken. Now they matched the mug. River would love to paint the pair. “Everything about you is meant to protect you or get you pregnant.”

River rolled her eyes. Mostly so she didn’t have to look at her anymore. “If my body is supposed to protect me, I don’t think I would have stopped getting taller at thirteen.”

“It’s not to scare away predators, petal, it’s to appeal to them.” Elliott cupped her hands and held them up as though framing River within them. “Cuteness keeps you alive - like baby animals, being cute ensures their parents care for them.” She winked through the gap and dropped her hands. “It’s a defence mechanism and omegas have it.”

“You think I’m cute?”

“That’s all you’re keeping from that little science lesson?”

River laughed. “That, and you want to get me pregnant,” she joked. She hoped she would get all flustered in her denial. Elliott the unshakable alpha - rattled!

“So, we’re finally on the same page, then.” Her voice had turned husky, almost threatening.

“You’re supposed to deny it.”

Elliott scanned her body. Too slow. Too lingering. “It’s biology.”

“Back to business talk, please,” River squeaked. Her heart was pounding against her throat, her fingertips, the parts that weren’t to be talked about at the table…

“Business?” Elliott chuckled.

“Well, I’ll be paying you!”

“Oh, yeah? How much?”

River frowned. “One hundred pounds, like you said in the car.”

She sucked a breath in through her teeth and shook her head, feigning disappointment. “Sorry, petal, that discount was one-night-only, you should have claimed it then.”

Suddenly, she felt incredibly stupid. Elliott was playing with her, always had been. She should have seen this coming.

“And since I’m pretty sure you haven’t got ten grand lying around… it looks like I’ll have to help you out.”

“I’m not putting your scent on a payment plan,” River snapped in a whisper.

“I’m not interested in money.”

“Because you have it.”

Elliott shrugged.

“Then, what do you want?”

“A favour.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” River grumbled.

“Any time, any place, any reason. If I come to you and ask for something, you do it.”

River groaned through clenched teeth. “I really don’t like the sound of that. What kind of something?”

“It could be anything.” This delighted her to say. She was enjoying toying with her. Maybe this was a very bad idea…

“Fine.” It was ten days. Just ten days.

“Then, we have a deal.” She put out her hand and River shook it. With one long drink, she emptied her mug. “Before we do this, you need to tell me now if there’s anyone that might get in the way, or out this little charade.”

“No one.” River hurried to finish her tea.

“You’re sure?” She stilled completely, staring her down. “If a secret girlfriend crawls out of the woodwork next week and makes a fool out of me there will be hell to pay.”

“I’m sure.” She slid out from her seat. “And what about you?”

Elliott followed her out. “That’s my business, not yours.”

River scowled.

She took her hand, swallowing River’s up in her massive one, and they walked out of the coffee house.

“Where are we going?” River asked.

“Somewhere private.”