But Rue had him stumbling, a noisy whine out of his throat when he'd woken up from the dream panting like a newbie. He was an incubus and yet he was sweating, boiling with orgasm, fucking losing his shit, mouth dry with the need to suck pussy hard. His thighs were so tacky that his fingers had squelched when he'd swept his hands down his pants. He'd burned for Rue. He wanted Rue.
And the thought of Rue begging for his dick, his cock breaching her folds? That hadn't disgusted him the way Omegas did, had instead made tears fill his eyes from the desire of it all. He'd quivered so hard he felt sick. His Alpha had been trembling at the thought of a vulnerable, unclaimed Omega sleeping in the dangers of his pack den.
He'd bitten his lips hard enough to draw blood, nails digging into flesh. His Rampage twisted with the focus on that sugar—an inhumane scent, like the depths of a honey hive, like the warmth of overripe berries, like sugar dripping from cane, like whipped condensed cream, like ambrosia.
And after hours of losing his ever-loving shit, Valentino had decided—with fingers darting over his devices and his thoughts journaled in a messy script—that he didn't mind it at all. He didn't fucking care if Rue was female.
Why, he'd considered multiple possibilities for Rue's lack of interest in him. A eunuch had been one of such considerations. Perhaps, genital mutilation was something she faced from her more tribal upbringing.
Valentino wouldn't fault Rue for lacking a dick. He'd drank to that theory with Altair on a hornier night and the two wept at the possibility. But it didn't matter as long as it was Rue. So her working pussy was no problem at all. And if the wet pearly sticky squirt of her cunt was any indication at all, then Rue was Omega.
And an Omega of his equal. One that could guide him through Rampage, how rare. How fucking exquisite. Surely, his fathers would understand that this was no ordinary Omega that deserved a space in the blocks, monitored by their doctors and locked up in their little stalls to be bred.
And Valentino would do her right and better. He had it all planned out, butlers texted, and services ready. Minutes later he had a space ready, a mansion in the depths of a planet due north, filled with only bots, no people. A godly Omega nest—a comfortable space made the way eros did for their Omegas. A pretty cage but bigger and better than the booths his fathers made for their bevvy of Omegas.
It would be a home Rue deserved, one that would house as many children as she wanted.
And Valentino was willing to do it all primal, give it to her the way the savages did. An Alpha to his Omega. He would claim Rue, something no Eros ever did. He'd sink his teeth into her neck and take her into his arms. He'd fuck her through her Heats and let her take him through his Ruts. He'd spoil her, he'd visit her, he'd lavish her like a true mate. She would want for nothing, and he would give her everything.
He'd give her that safety, away from everyone, away from everything and anything that could deny their love. Anyone that could try to kill her. Anyone that could take her from him. He'd protect her and love her better.
But a Beta female?
That had destroyed all his dreams.
Valentino groaned, scratched a long line across the paper, and squeezed his pen so hard it cracked. He'd been so damn fucking sure, but with Rue hissing suggestions, eyes glittering with hatred, smelling like no perfume. Rue was unlike any Omega he'd ever met.
Because she was Beta.
Heartbreakingly, Rue was a girl who couldn't take a knot, would be all gentle dipping and worried fretting. Because Betas didn't expand, Betas didn't take Alpha cocks without bleeding. Betas were stronger than Omegas but nothing to Alphas. Betas broke. Betas died trying to take an Alpha through his Rut because there was no way they could satisfy him.
A Beta female was stronger than an Omega physically, but they would die with an Alpha of his calibre. Rue had all the right to be afraid of him. It explained why Rue'd batted away their begging, explained Rue's hard-headed fuck you and no, thank you. It explained her strength and the way she could hold him back.
And it explained why Rue didn't want him, couldn't take him. Betas were not made to yearn for Alphas, had no Heats, no Ruts. And fuck, it'd devastated him. He felt like the animal, lost in Rue's rolled eyes as if she didn't give a fuck when Valentino's soul wept for her, his tails sang for her, and his body trembled for her like it would for an Alpha or an Omega.
Fuck Seraphim and his shit about soulmates. But Seraphim was right…Rue wasn't his.
And Rue hadn't wanted him even when he was on his knees in confession. Valentino hadn't been the first to say those three words to his pack when they'd claimed each other. He'd merely shrugged then, with a shy laugh and a blushing pout. He'd muttered "I love you" with gruffness only after they'd said it too.
Still, it didn't matter to Valentino then, looking at Rue with his crystal clementines for eyes. In his disappointment, and with the knowledge that Rue would run the moment he showed his displeasure. Valentino had known that he still wanted Rue, still needed Rue, still loved Rue.
It didn't matter if she was Beta, he still yearned for her.
Rue would be his destruction, and if he had to fuck her nice, slow and carefully. He could do it. And if he couldn't fuck Rue, he supposed he could do that too. Valentino closed his eyes, tongue darting to wet drying lips. They'd make do.
The thought of that had made his tails shudder, flopping down with the weight of disappointment that he felt straight through his soul. And suddenly he felt a need to confess the burden of his knowledge, his eyes turning to the aphrodite to his eros.
"What if Rue's not an Alpha?" Valentino mumbled to Altair, unable to stop himself. Then shuddered as gooseflesh popped over his skin. Rue's eyes flashed scarlet in his mind. Fuck. A chill seemed to settle; noose tight around his neck.
Altair turned and regarded him with pinched eyes and a beautiful smile. "What the fuck are you saying?"
"What if he's something w-weird…Like a Beta?"
"Don't fuck around," Altair laughed. "Is this what's got your panties in a twist? You think Rue's Beta?"
Valentino licked his lips, eyes darted back to the door, sweat beading on brow. "Shut up."
Altair snorted. "Betas are boring, weak, scentless shits that grow rampant in double-digit planets."
Their youngest mate turned to him then with a scowl. "Rue is not a Beta," Halcyon shook his head, nose scrunched up as if he'd just heard something nasty.
"How are you so sure?" Valentino pointed out. "Know any Betas?"
"They're hard workers," Halcyon answered, lips pursed. "In my planet, they're great prey when we need a good chase." He blinked, furrowed brows. "Sometimes, they're with contracted packs from the other planets. They shovel shit and clean our sewage."
Altair sneered. "That sounds fucking disgusting."
Halcyon twisted his pen. "You need someone to take care of the household or the kids? Need someone to do the dirty work? A Beta's a good slave for the poor. They really can't say no." He blinked, pursed lips. "They'd do anything to be in a pack."
"Rue's not Beta," Altair told Valentino with a chaff through his nose. "He says no all the damn fucking time!"
"I meant to say," Valentino fidgeted, sucked on his bottom lip, a strange twist of nerves churning in his belly. "What if?"
Altair scrutinised him with a glare. "We've had our discussions I know. Doesn't matter if he's from a double-digit port. But no Beta can best us or guide us. He might be a skinny thing, but he smells like Alpha. He fights like Alpha. He talks like Alpha. And he doesn't give a flying fuck when we're pumping out our pheromones. And when we're trying to put him in his place, he slaps the ever-loving shit out of us—"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
Valentino leapt to his feet, eyes swivelling to Rue who stood watching. The bell had rang in their discussion, and already half the class was gone. Valentino's heart soared and he sank into the seat, swallowing hard as if he'd fucked up. And maybe he did. Shit.
"Rue!" Halcyon chirped, and bounced over with excitement. "I took notes for you!"
"Thought you ditched us," Altair groaned as she snagged her bag, and shovelled her things into the sack as if nothing had happened.
Valentino sniffed hard, eyes narrowing at the smell of Levi of all people, thick and wet on her body like fiery, hot peppery sin. Her hair was wet from a shower and still, he could smell him on her, a pungency that floated lush with an arousal he was far too familiar with.
"Where were you?" Valentino said, but Rue simply gave him a look and he was quiet, as she slinked up by his side. Valentino blinked, and she leaned close, voice a barely audible whisper, breath caressing the nape of his neck.
"Were you spilling my secrets?"
"N-no," Valentino mumbled, flush rising to his cheeks, "just talking." Fuck.