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The New Alphas
Hetty
It’s hours before I escape them.
After they finished their coffee, Joanna and Sylvia ordered me to follow them through Coriander’s, Goldenrod’s department store, and later up and down Dogwood Street as they visited a few fancy boutiques.
Moving from store to store, they giggled like schoolgirls, mostly ignoring me unless they had a bag or a box to thrust in my direction.
Dogwood Street grew even more crowded as the morning faded into afternoon. Through the afternoon sun, beating down painfully, I saw my fellow betas. Their eyes were glued to the ground as they wordlessly pulled carts from place to place. I don’t know any of their names, and we didn’t look up to acknowledge each other.
And of course, the Goldenrod alphas and omegas were out and about, striding confidently as they called out to one another gleefully like they didn’t have a single care in the world.
But I was more than a little surprised to also see some of the new alphas sauntering up and down the road, assumingly looking for trouble.
Everyone is a bit scared of them. They’ve only been here a few months and have already caused a lot of disruption to the Order. I’m not sure where they came from… I guess the same mysterious place as Elizabeth Cypress’s mate, Rill.
Rill’s the biggest, scariest alpha I’ve ever met, and the other new alphas are no different. They’re all towering, hairy, and intimidating.
Joanna and Sylvia didn’t seem to find them frightening, though. They giggled and pointed out the ones they found handsome, eventually gaining the attention of a massive, dark-haired alpha. His muddy brown eyes lit up when he saw them watching him.
“Good afternoon, ladies,” he said in a musical, twangy accent as he approached them. “Can I help you carry your bags?”
Joanna blushed prettily and spoke in a sweet-sounding, high voice. “No, thank you, alpha. We have the beta for that.”
She flicked her hand absently at me, and the alpha’s eyes briefly snapped in my direction, settling on me before re-focusing on Joanna. Leaning against a wall, he stared at her like a fox salivating over a plump chicken.
“What’s an omega as pretty as you get up to on a day like this?”
Joanna giggled, but I couldn’t hide a wince. Luckily, they didn’t notice as the alpha talked endlessly about inane topics—the weather, more about how pretty the omegas were, and where they lived.
Joanna and Sylvia didn’t say much. Mostly, they just giggled.
All the while, I suffered in silence, shifting my weight under the heavy bags and boxes. At some point, I’d gone from simply being overheated to feeling like my body was radiating heat all on its own—like I was a burning star. I couldn’t understand how everyone was walking around like the weather was perfectly normal.
And now, after standing on this sunny patch of sidewalk for about a thousand years, they finally part with promises to see each other soon.
As soon as he disappears behind a corner, Joanna and Sylvia break out into shrieks and more giggles as they link arms and begin walking toward Spruce Street.
“I think that’s enough fun for one day,” I hear Joanna’s voice drift from ahead of me. “Do you want to come inside and…”
I stop listening as relief washes over me—finally, this ordeal is over.
But Spruce Street? My eyes catch on the large but rundown houses we pass as we make our way down the sidewalk. Based on Joanna’s attitude, I’d assumed she lived in one of the fancier houses near Cypress House.
It’s not until she turns to walk up the steps of a humble two-story house covered in chipped beige paint—the last one on the street—that I realize how wrong I was. She basically lives in the field that spreads out from the end of the street. I shift her shopping haul uncomfortably in my arms. How does someone who lives here afford all of this?
But it doesn’t matter at this point, I decide. I’m finally on the verge of getting away from these two for good.
Releasing a wavering breath of anticipation, I drop the bags and boxes on the front porch. My questioning gaze moves between them, but they’re still ignoring me.
Sylvia’s staring into the distance, humming distractedly as Joanna roots through her purse, presumably looking for a key.
I stare at her intently, willing her to notice me.
Finally, she finds the key, and as she turns to unlock the door, her eyes catch on me.
“Well, off with you,” she says with an absent wave of her hand, her nose scrunched with disapproval. “I daresay the Administrator will have use for you now.”
