Rue
She loved the markets, dealers with no license, no hygiene, no contracts. Just the skin on their back and their goods wedged in their pits. Because these people were honest liars.
Three bus stops away, tucked behind the alleyways at the borders of legality, spreading ten streets wide was the market that Theo had mentioned. There were vendors and mongers—battling rivals with barrels of bucking cod, too ripe fruit, cold homemade bitter whey, and the acrid bite of ferment. Behind them were the vans of peddlers selling their drugs, their information, their debauchery.
And then the girls, always the girls at the ends.
They'd exist even in the streets of the wealthy, the clean, with dark lips and red cheeks, pressed to the walls with breast popping from their frocks like milk froth and eyes darting over the crowd like hawks. They'd take an Alpha behind the corners, part legs with eyes to the sky, then snap up their purses. They were rich Omega girls, were paid far more than the average, would always earn as long as Alphas had Ruts, dicks and brainless need.
Just like the idiots in her life.
Rue knew it well, saw them standing like beacons to hell at the spots of darkness that led to areas which sold far worse things in vans flooded with decoy vegetables. And she noticed the Alphas that stood in silent huddles, with their fists wedged in their pockets, waiting for their turn with the peddler.
They had no fear, Rue decided. For they were men. An Alpha was always better than an Omega, and right now she was one of them, made up and smeared in the role. Just as the harlots were in the corners with their bright colours and stained bodies. They were all merely acting.
People lied to get what they wanted.
It was the way of the world. Rue expected nothing less.
She was calm when she approached the owner, already with a bag of produce and food—decoys for police, for raid. She had broken crust pie, a jar of strange jam, the stalk of bok choy. Nothing for Halcyon, he wouldn't eat any of it with the signs of rot, and the edge of decay.
"Full heat suppressants," she'd muttered, cash slammed down—all thanks to Levi. "Two packs."
"Ten thousand credits," the man had muttered, teeth yellowed with gold. "For one only."
She'd met another just like him back home. One that'd opened his coat like a lecher and revealed pretty things for Rue back when she looked like an Omega. A beautiful comb, he'd assured, for a beautiful girl. But Rue knew better than to take something from a man.
And she'd been right to doubt him, for he stole the credits she had in her pocket meant for the snails that would flavour the soup of the den.
Rue'd spent hours crawling over the ground, searching for coins to tide over their meal. Then had spent what she had on the lard and trimmings that no one wanted. The pack Alpha had beaten her when she got home despite it all. Liar, he had said, you spent it all on your own, on pretty things like a stupid Omega. The next day the peddler had entered their home, spent his stolen credit on her mother claiming it was his own coin. It's mine, he'd said, my money, I found it on the street, exactly fifty-two, and fifteen.
Rue fucking hated liars.
"Three" Rue'd countered, cursed at the price. She should have gotten more, but it was difficult to find a place. The black markets snuffed out so tight it was as if they had all been raided by law enforcers. Even the ones back home had died, peddlers gone, people quiet. The markets remained, but only for clean things.
"Not here to banter, boy," the man spat, glanced towards an Alpha regular who took his own pack of drugs and paid full price without even a word. "The price is set in these parts. It's a dangerous place. And the drug's the last of its kind."
"They aren't worth that much—"
"My boy," he'd answered, raised it high. "These can send a pig back on its cycle. Might kill a horse. It's banned, clamped down. The only reason you'd want this now is to hide a secret." Rue'd grown quiet, cursed.
"Three's decent last week." Rue countered. "Down planet, it's the price."
"Not anymore," the peddler answered. "Royal family's after the lot. Planet 28 don't make them no more. No reason to. It's killed Omegas, too many."
Rue hissed. Fuck, and it was the best. The thing reduced her slick, ended cravings, and she had barely enough hidden away. She had resorted to cutting them into bits and sprinkling the rest in her drink. It was taking a toll on her, which she assumed must be the reason she'd almost lost herself standing before the orgy of Halcyon, Valentino and Altair. It had changed something in her, made heat crawl up her neck. Only the rage concealed the shake of her fingers.
The peddler shrugged. "They're after the Alphas that use it. You'd catch yourself dead with this in your hands."
"Omegas," Rue repeated, his words dawning upon her. Blood rushing from her face, pale and shaky. "Killed?"
"I've heard," the peddler whispered, open to talk now that sales were quiet. "Their Heat's too hard when it eventually comes. Explodes them. Without an Alpha knot, they'd die. Could be a great way to lock down an Omega. They'll come to you crawling, but it doesn't matter, too hard to fix her up."
"That's easy enough," Rue snorted, but panic clamped at her throat. "I've got a dick."
"Not enough," peddler shook his head, a sneer on his lips. "If it's not a soulmate, they can't leave the knot. Before long, the Alpha's got to piss, got to eat. Five minutes off and she's dead."
"Soulmate's an old term," Rue interrupted. "Not all species need one—"
"Not this drug," the peddler replied. "No species is lucky to go free. They've employed poseidons to save the girls, spent millions faking soulmate dicks with their water. They've got thousands of oracles out there searching for soulmates before it's too late. So this? It's worth the ten thousand each."
Rue bit her tongue. "Got anything better?"
"Better?" the peddler laughed. "Regulators won't stop a Heat, but I've got things to bring it down." He pulled out the scent blockers. "Hides the smell for a bit. Costs you three."
"That won't stop a heat!" Rue cursed.
"Course not, nothing can. Not even this," the peddler observed her then. "Boy, got an Omega locked down?"
"A sister," Rue answered quickly. "With an Alpha that wants her Heat to tie her down." There was desperation in her voice, one that she knew the peddler could sense. It wouldn't do to show despair to a seller, not when she was here to banter and slash prices. But Rue couldn't help it, not with the knowledge that she was playing with death and an Alpha was in her future.
"Might as well," the peddler answered with a shrug. "Better chance at survival. Now do you want them or not?"
She bought both despite the warning with shaking fingers and her heart hammering in her chest. The drugs were deposited in her bags like bombs, and she moved out of the way, teeth snagging lip. God, if she'd known…But this had been the best way to hide her second gender, perhaps even the only way.
Without a Heat she was safe to roam without evidence collecting behind her, without an Alpha's noose around her neck. But if she had to find an Alpha, and a soulmate just to fucking survive. Her mind snapped to Valentino, always insisting, always begging.
Soulmate, soulmate, soulmate.
Fuck. Did she want to die trying to ride his dick? Would he hide her secrets? Would he understand? Rue didn't know, couldn't tell, and her mind swayed then to Seraphim, already problem solving with her nails to her teeth. A poseidon, an oracle, an alien with the ability to morph and transform into anything. He did say she'd grow pregnant with his fucking kids. Was that the price she had to pay for the secret? She slammed a hand to her forehead.
Fucking damn it. If she had to choose, she'd much prefer fucking Levi or Kieran. They might understand, might take care of her. Or Halcyon, who'd do anything, would probably keep silent. Or maybe even Altair, someone who regularly transformed into an Omega just for sex. Perhaps she could lie, fake something about an ability to transform into an Omega like he could, talk about an Omega kink that she had. She scrambled then, hands running through her hair.
Did she even have a fucking choice?
The shuffle of vans rattling off was what had alarm shooting up her spine. She turned, saw thousands running, vans stuffing goods deep into their trunks, and slamming doors shut. Rue didn't have to hear it to know what was coming, with the way merchants dropped their goods, and slammed produce into bags.
There was danger, and it was coming.
"A raid! It's a fucking raid!" Someone screamed, and she hoisted her bag up higher, launching forward. But the steps were loud, the gunshots even louder. Then the ripple of Alpha abilities, of Espers it sang in the air, clattered in the wind—the paralyzing sounds of destruction. She dropped one bag, and on the ground, it rolled with the broken jam, bread crushed under the feet of people, lost it to the speed of her escape.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
Thunder bellowed, lightning struck and along it came the smell of ozone, petrichor and rain. And she froze then as soldiers entered a swarm of white and gold. Royal family of Planet 1. The team of aliens were all zeus. Rue darted into the corners, into the space, pressed tight against the walls as she wheezed. The pipes creaked above her and she prayed, heart pounding, body trembling.
And then he was there, slipping in, electricity burning, eyes like fire. She dropped her bag; it rattled on the floor and a hand lunged forward, fingers around her throat, lifting her up, holding her high. A muffled scream escaped her, as her eyes met the ones of the soldier. She recognised him instantly.
Dante, of all fucking people, clad simply—clean cut armour, thin around his waist. Starshine bathing the sharp edges of his body, and he filled the space like some sort of judgement, like some sort of god. He was devil-like handsome, the quintessential example of a zeus soldier that could kill, that would pop her head off her body easily. And he seemed to know that, with the cruelest of smirks and the revelation of too-sharp teeth.
He was like the harbinger of death and Levi wasn't here to protect her, not anymore.