The laugh was ghastly, long and echoed then silence. "Darling, will they pay?"
"They wanted me under lock and key. They wouldn't allow me to continue school. They wanted me chained like a pet in their cage with a running wheel, a bowl of food and a fucking—"
"A pretty room? A full belly? Sponsorship? A lifetime of luxury? That is perfect, child." Her mother's expression fell into one of incredulity. "Oh, tell me, you weren't stupid enough to squander that all away."
"Mama…" There was no hiding a thing from her mother, hard and as wicked as she was. Her mother had only sacrificed herself for the best for Rue. And Mama had always wanted Rue out of the debauchery. "Mama, it was not what we wanted—"
"You were always an ugly child who needed so much freedom," her mother sighed. "I suppose I gave it to you, too many dreams, indulged in your fantasies, allowed you those thoughts thinking that you might be different. But as burdened by ambition as you are, you are Omega, Rue. You are always an Omega, more so now than ever before."
"Mama, please."
"Wake up."
"Mama, I have—"
"Do not dream of what you cannot have," her mother snapped, rage had her rising from her pillow, finger stabbing against Rue's chest. "Accept the reality of our position. You didn't want this work. So you will work the ways our mothers have all worked, under the beck and call of an Alpha. You will be tired, but it will not be painful. You will not end up like me."
"Mama…" Rue was broken at her words, strangled by the change, confused by the switch. Then angry, and the rage dug in her, a maggot in her mind. How could her mother say this after fanning the flames of her independence? "Mama, I will break. I'm meant for more than that. And you've told me, that I could be more, that I could earn the money to give us all a better life—"
"But a rich Alpha?" her mother smiled, "one from Hakon? Oh, my girl, I've thought of you surviving on your own in that world, how dangerous it could be. An Alpha could potentially save you now."
"Save me?" Rue laughed. "I don't need them, I was going to live on my own, to work—"
"And where did you ever get the idea that you were marked out for anything better?" Her mother smiled. "Greed destroys you. Your circumstances have changed. You are no longer a young girl."
"Mother."
"Centuries of labour, centuries of women under the boot of men. You will not be the first, do not think yourself worthy of more, privileged as you are. You already have an education; you've tasted the peak and climbed higher than any Omega. You are privileged Rue, but you are no better—"
"Don't say it."
"And those dreams are impossible," her mother grinned, wicked, rippling. "Not with you smelling like a ripe Omega. Oh, you hide it all under those blockers. But you can't hide it from your mother, nor can you hide it from those Alphas. Your body ripens so much you stink. They will come crawling, and they will eat you alive. It is too late to go back now that you've had your Heat, now that you can bear fruit like all of us."
"I'm not—"
"Rue, you will take the first Alpha that offers you a position in their harem. You will let him fuck you."
"Mother," her gasp was filled with horror. "You cannot be serious."
"We're born with a place in this world. This is your duty," her mother snapped. "You cannot escape your nature now that you've become what you are."
"Mama—"
"You're no virgin now, are you?" Her mother sniffed, fingers tightening its grasp, smelling the traces of Alpha that remained. The scent of the seven. "You've allowed that Alpha to take you, to fuck you through your Heat like a harlot, You won't be standing if you didn't have a cock," her mother laughed. "One chance Rue. They want virgins, they want them pure and young. You will not find a better offer now that you're seeded and broken. And cannot return to school."
"But—"
"I've raised you to be smarter than this, you should know better than to have sold yourself so easily without a boon, without money. What did you want to be, impregnated for cheap like me?"
"I was dying!" Rue snarled. "The drugs fucked me up, I had to. I had to do it."
"And you always have to," Mama hissed, "now that you're a true Omega."
"Shut up," Rue growled. "And leave with me!" Her mother trembled then, breaking at her words, frothing at her lips. She spasmed, twitching against the bed as if Rue had broken her with those words. She collapsed heaving, blood staining the mattress, pooling between her legs. And Rue gasped, horrified by the strength of her voice, of the strength of her grip. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry—"
"You have your father's words?" Her Mama gasped at her, eyes wide, terror dripping. Her father was always a matter of jest. Her mother had only spoken words of how he was ugly, and a loser. A customer that didn't pay a good price, an ugly fat fuck. "It can't be. You've never shown it, why now?"
"I'm sorry Mama," Rue whimpered, arms around her mother.
And her mother's fingers were around her shoulders, clawing hard, pressed deep until blood was drawn, eyes wide with psychotic fear. "That bastard came like an angel, glowing white declared me his queen. And then I saw him for who he truly was with his wicked tongue—the devil." Her mother heaved, sobbing as if she'd spoken sin, fingers crawling to Rue's neck until it seemed almost difficult to breathe. "With that voice, those eyes. I thought it wouldn't go to you; I thought you wouldn't have it in you when you came out of me looking like this. I tried to kill you so many times but his words, and my damn soul—"
"MAMA!" Rue snapped, a push and her mother collapsed before her. She moaned softly, skin pale. And Rue gasped horrified, sinking to fret over her.
"You're stronger too," Mama gasped. "Better."
"I'm sorry," Rue ran fingers down her Mama's back. "A hospital, we need a hospital for you. God, I'm sorry—"
"This is not from you; these wounds are old. This sickness eats at me slowly." Her mama smiled, smiled then sighed, long, hard and heavy. "You want to run?" her mother asked, finally listening, finally understanding. "Where do you want to go?"
"They said they were my soulmates. Mama, you told me never to never ever trust your soulmates—"
"I told you to milk them dry."
"Not in their prison, I could not—"
"You've always dreamt of too big things. Rue, you will regret it. Your fight is too big. You will be pressed into a corner, backed up against the wall when you could have greater things as an Omega of your position, with your power, with your voice." Her mother grew quieter. "They will all come for you."
"You are proud to be where you are, Mama, you've always taught me to earn my keep—"
"I am here not because I want to Rue!" Her mother snapped; eyes hard, bloodshot. "I'm proud of myself, of what I do to survive. But look at me, look at what I've become. HE TOOK ME. TOOK ME AND CLAIMED ME." Her mother was panting through the scream. "He promised me he'd bring me away, that he'd treat me like a queen. That in their world, Omegas…Omegas are not what they are, Omegas could be wives. Equals. And then he left. He told me to stay here waiting, told me to always take care of myself, to live with his curse. And then he left me in this prison. Don't you see Rue? I cannot leave, I cannot just go. I wait, I have to. You can try to rip me from here, but I'm doomed to remain with my feet planted on this ground, to have my soul continue chained to this world even as my body tries to go. You can try but with his words, I will merely waste away and die when you try to take me away. There are no Alphas that can be trusted, but there are better lives you can live. Life as a personal Omega, an Omega under an Alpha's sole care. You can command him; you can control them. That is already a better life than this hell."
"Mama…" Rue's breath was caught in her throat, mind spinning. Her father…Her mother was talking about her father. And she understood now that her mother was too weak to go against his words, that the sickness was influenced by the voice. The voice that she shared with her father.
"There are no dreams, face your realities."
"I've paid hundreds and thousands to that lizard, we can live—"
"Our pack Alpha will not let me go, not without an Alpha." Her words were stern, words were angry. "No Alpha will let us leave peacefully, you will kill us all, and find yourself only in a prison of your own making. A laboratory to be experimented on. They will use you."
"I can fight them all," Rue whispered. "I can make this place better. I will do that for you."
Her mother laughed. "Go back to school, go back to those Alphas that pay you. Rue, a life without money on the run is one of hell. And Omegas cannot hold money, not without an Alpha."
"Mama, I can pretend, I have been an Alpha for so long…"
Her mother laughed then long and hard. But Rue knew that the argument now circled, that her statements held no fire in them. "You've changed, my girl, you have no other options. You can run but you cannot hide. It will come back to bite you; you will need an Alpha. You are completely a woman now."
Rue was silent then, and her mother sighed.
"Those Alphas do not chase you because of your strength." Her mother's eyes flashed, voice dripping with her plea. "Women have always been meant to wait upon a man. It is their duty. They want that, but that does not mean we live without power."
And Rue was broken at her words, shattered at her begging.
"You have to go back to school." Her mother murmured taking her hand as the blood spilled crimson on her thighs. "But you cannot run from the Alphas." Her voice was gentler now, but sickness clouded them. "There is no need to give up on everything, your voice is useful. And you will be able to use it to your benefit, for luxuries."
"Mama…"
"An Omega will always be collared to a bed. Not an equal, but always as a lesser being." Her mother's eyes were dark, darker still as they regarded her with a hatred she'd never seen before. "And before you know it they'll secretly fuck a kid into you during your Heat one day and lock you down forever. Rue, women are just baby machines, and once those Alphas have had their fill then they'll leave for someone better, and you will be free from them all."