Dream

"Since you have no experience, Krisa will train you beginning tomorrow." These were the last words heard from Egas before Ken escaped the office.

As he wandered back to his room and encountered others, he was overly conscious of their gaze. The beta felt they knew what had happened just by looking at him.

Speeding up his steps, he tried his best to recall the way to his room.

As soon as he reached the room, he threw off his clothes and pants while taking a few tries to remove the protective collar. He couldn't wait to jump in the shower. Scrubbing all over, Ken was convinced he had used about half a bottle of body wash but was still unable to wash the scent of that alpha off his body.

Every time the fragrance of the body wash lingered on his body, it made stronger and clearer a scent that emanated from his nape to the air around him. The two scents were fighting for dominance, and the artificial scent was losing.

When Ken was drying off, he noticed there was a full-body mirror on the wall. Reflected was a lean young man — a faint blush flushed his pale skin after a hot shower. Compared to an omega, he was less fleshed out; compared to an alpha, he was less muscular.

The signs were telltale this was a beta. Yet the bright red bite mark on his nape was something mostly seen on omegas.

"Damnit! Treating me like an omega!" Ken cursed. He was usually a gentle and calm person — the type to never get mad even if pranked.

Ever since his awakening, nothing has gone right.

Ken stepped out from the bathroom and wore back the clothes he had on when he woke up. The other set of clothes needed to visit the washing station.

As for the collar... there was no choice. He had to wear it to conceal the bite mark.

This second time around, the secondary effect of the protective collar was more obvious. The microneedles were injecting a scent inhibitor of some kind.

The beta's faint scent was now minuscule. Without sniffing the scent glands at zero distance, he might as well be treated as invisible due to being scentless.

He shook his head and took off the protective collar again.

Ken was all ready to go to bed. Although merely having gone out for a little while, he was already exhausted mentally and physically.

—

Ken panted, "...I can't anymore..."

A deep voice resonated behind him, "Just a bit more..."

"No...! Egas!"

—

Ken grasped his head in horror. He murmured, "What kind of dream was that?"

A familiar scent infiltrated the whole room overnight.

Ken looked around and masked his nose with the blanket.

'Why is the scent of that alpha so strong?' It was an abnormality in his mind. If the alpha was in a rut in this room, this could be rationalized. Yet Egas wasn't here.

He looked down at his ID-watch; it was 06:59. There were also three unread messages.

Yesterday 21:00: Meet me at the cafeteria at 07:30. -Krisa

Four days ago: Where are you? Doing alright? -Leys

Five days ago: Call me back. -Dad

Leys was one of his few beta friends from school. They had a lot of mutual classes and ended up together all the time while in school.

Ken had to meet Krisa soon, so he sent a quick message to his dad to indicate he was OK. However, the message said undelivered.

He tried to send a similar message to Leys but also said undelivered.

Then, he replied to Krisa an 'OK' and it was sent. And read within a few seconds.

Krisa sent him back a smiley face with a thumbs up.

Ken didn't dwell on the messages and quickly went to shower. He couldn't go meet Krisa with Egas's scent all over himself.

Before he left the room, he grabbed the protective collar and clicked it on. He was afraid of others seeing the mark on his nape.

Arriving at the cafeteria, he saw the same bunch of betas and omegas at the same table. This time, he didn't ask and went to grab a meal before joining them.

As he sat down, their eyes locked onto his neck. Thinking about whether they knew Egas had bitten him, he rubbed his neck nervously and asked, "What's wrong?"

Krisa smiled and lifted her fork pointing at his protective collar, "Nothing, just didn't think you would wear it so quickly. The last beta took five days before they were willing to wear the "omega" protective collar. Of course, by then it was too late..."

Another male omega, Peet, softly smiled and comforted, "Don't think it's unfair. You don't see it much here since people have to eat, but many of the alphas here wear a mask outside of eating."

Ken raised an eyebrow, so far all the alphas he had met didn't wear a mask.

Lowering his head and eating his food in silence, Ken didn't notice one omega was staring at his neck intently.

A sudden commotion drew the table's attention. A rowdy bunch of alphas entered the cafeteria. Many had their shirts off and slung over their shoulders as if they'd just finished training.

Amongst them, over half covered their faces with a black mask. Ken noticed the omega who spoke earlier, Peet, stiffened at their entrance.

Deciphering his expression, Ken didn't think it was fear but closer to awkwardness. Perhaps he was staring too hard, Krisa flung an arm over Ken's shoulder and teased, "Already making a move on our beautiful omega? You're going to bore a hole into his head!"

Scratching his face, Ken quickly explained, "It was unexpected to see them wearing black masks."

"These few have a very sensitive sense of smell. They are S-ranks. Many S-ranks have heightened senses. You are also an S-rank, so some of your senses will change as you grow stronger." Krisa stood up and motioned, "It's almost 08:00. We should head to the training room."

Ken nodded and followed Krisa.