"I am back"
Rike opened the door and announced her entry. She could hear her family's voices from the living room, and she headed toward there.
She could almost predict the topic of their conversation, even before she turned the doorknob.
"The pheromones filled the whole room. I felt uncomfortable, so I got out on time."
Size's sweet voice reached Rika's ear, and she hesitated to enter the room.
Being in the same room as Suzie had been hard for Rika since childhood.
'I don't think I should spend much time in the living room. I am sure that my parents will prefer it as well.'
Rika clutched the packet of chips in her hand, placed it in front of the living room door, and returned to her room.
It was nice and quiet inside her room, and the noise from outside did not reach inside. No one could tell Rika how weird she was or how uncomfortable her behavior made them feel.
Sleeping seemed like an excellent idea, and Rika started to close her eyes when she heard a thunderous pair of footsteps heading toward her room.
The door was slammed open by her brother and his enraged face.
"Rika, what the hell are you doing? Why did you bring this pack of chips? They stink so badly of omega pheromones. Do you want to send me into an early rut? God! Even Suzie was there. What if I hurt her?"
Mark's expression looked thunderous, and Rika flinched.
She admitted that she might have gone overboard with her prank. But in her defence, she did not know how badly that bag of chips stank when she bought it.
"You asked me to buy you a pack of chips. Do you have to behave like that toward me?"
Rika complained back, and she could tell she was getting on Mark's nerves.
"Are you talking back to me? Rika, I promise you that you don't want to anger me. Please, apologise before I lose it."
Mark warned Rika. It was beginning to get dangerous here, and Rika was sure her brother was flooding her room with his pheromones.
If Rika had been an omega, she would have submitted by now. And if she had been an alpha, she would have challenged her brother.
But she was neither, and her neutral response triggered Mark even more.
"Apologize? I don't want to apologise for something that is not my fault! If you had complained, you should not have asked me to buy you chips."
Rika spoke back, but it was a mistake.
She did not notice when her brother attacked her.
Mark was much stronger than Rika as an alpha. It was easy for him to close his large hands around Rika's neck and lift her.
"Oi! L-let go! Y-You are hurting me."
Rika complained while hitting her brother's arms. She was losing oxygen fast, and panic filled her heart.
She had triggered her brother before, but he had never behaved this aggressively. Rika couldn't recognise him.
"Brother, are you alright? You ran pretty fast-! What are you doing? M-Mommy, Mark is-!"
Rika could count on her hand the number of times she felt happy and relieved after hearing Suzie's voice, and this was one of them.
Her panicked pheromones and loud yelling caused Mark to snap out of his mood.
Mark's wide eyes looked at Rika with a guilty expression as he finally let her go. Rika was finally able to breathe again, but her throat still hurt.
She was sure a bruise covered her neck in the shape of her brother's hand.
"What are your children up to? Suzie, is everything alright? What did Mark do-"
Rika tried to turn her back to her mother to hide what happened. She was not in a mood to deal with anyone at the moment.
She did not notice how Mark cringed when their mother glared at him.
"Mark, take Suzie down. I will talk to you about this later. Rika, are you feeling alright? Do you need any help?"
Rika looked at her mother's worried expression, but she could also see how awkward it was for her mother to approach her.
Her mother hardly interacted with Rika once she hit ten but showed no signs of manifesting a secondary gender.
"It's okay. I will deal with my injury. You should go and deal with Mark and Suzie now."
Rika gave Ger's mother the out, which she was desperately looking for.
Her mother still looked worried but was desperate to escape this awkward situation.
As an alpha, her mother did not like to be out of her element, and Rika was very much out of her element.
"I…your father will talk with him. You can talk to him and tell him anything you cannot say to me. I promise he will listen to you."
That was what her mother promised Rika, but Rika knew better.
Mark and Suzie let out destressing pheromones so her father could not concentrate.
Especially if Mark filled Rika's rooms with his angry pheromones.
Rika was not even hoping that her father would enter her room.
And that was what ended up happening.
"Rika, can we talk? Your mother told me what happened. I want you to know that we are always with you and ready to hear anything you say."
Her father looked inside the room but did not dare enter.
It hurt, but Rika had expected it.
After all, her father's care for her was not enough for him to push past his physical discomfort and seek Rika out.
"It's fine! You should go and check up on Mark and Suzie. I will talk to Mother regarding what happened, alright?"
Rika asked in a gentle voice.
She knew her father was soft-hearted and would not push for more if given a chance.
It happened just as Rika expected.
Her father made a frustrated face before he left the room. Rika sighed in relief but knew now was the time to act.
'I should talk to my mother regarding my college acceptance while I still have a chance. I am not sure if I will get a better opportunity than this.'