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HOW TO LOVE AN ALPHA by Cassian Calyx (revised)
The list ran to fourteen points now, each one sourced, tested, and cross-referenced against at least two romance shows and real-life examples for his relationship with Ruari.
1. Always be happy to see your alpha, even if you are not happy about other things.
He’d done that. He’d practically jumped on Ruari when he got to Proving Ground!
2. Tell your alpha about your day. Alphas like to know that you are safe and busy.
He’d told Ruari everything. He’d given him the full report, delivered with the volume and enthusiasm that Ruari usually rewarded with a laugh and a pastry.
3. Compliment your alpha’s providing. If he feeds you, eat. If he gives you something, keep it where he can see it, and make a fuss over it.
He’d eaten the Chelsea bun. Half of it, anyway, until things started feeling wrong.
4. Don’t make your alpha feel replaced. He should know he is your favourite person.
Cassian’s finger hovered over the line. He read it again, his lips moving around the words.
Don’t make your alpha feel replaced.
He’d talked about Lysander. He’d said Lysander was everything, right to Ruari’s face.
But Lysander was everything. Lysander was the first person who’d told him he was never going back to Charles, and that was a fact that existed separately from the fact that Ruari was his alpha and the best thing that had ever happened to him in London.
Right?
Cassian closed his notebook. Maybe Ruari had changed since Cassian had chosen his exams over Ruari. The Lumineer used to say that a Vessel who put himself before his alpha was unnatural.
Cassian couldn’t work out what he’d done wrong, no matter how long he sat with it, so he went to find Colin. Cassian had mapped the household expertise early on: he talked to Diwa about his questions involving computers, technology, and any appliance that connected to Wi-Fi. Colin was for everything else.
Cassian sat on the stool opposite the older omega and set his notebook between them. He’d practised his smile on the stairs, checking it twice in the hallway mirror to make sure it reached his eyes.
“Colin, I’ve done something wrong with Ruari.”
Colin’s gaze dropped to the notebook. “Go on.”
Cassian opened the notebook to the first page and turned it to face Colin. He smoothed the page flat with both palms.
“I’ve been going through my list,” Cassian said, tapping the first entry. “Number one. Always be happy to see your alpha. I did that, Colin. I’m always happy around Ruari.” He moved his finger down and explained each point to Colin.
Cassian’s finger stopped at number four. He pressed it to the page until the paper dented. “Don’t make your alpha feel replaced,” he read aloud. “I told Ruari that Lysander is everything. I said it right to his face. That Lysander is everything to me, and then Ruari went into the kitchen and locked the door.”
Cassian’s fingers curled around the notebook’s edges. “It’s true. Sander is everything. He’s the reason I’m here. And he’s an omega, like me. Ruari doesn’t have anything to worry about with him. But…is this why Ruari wouldn’t talk to me today? He wouldn’t even really look at me. And that’s weird, ’cos sometimes, that’s all he wants to do…”
“Did he hurt you, Cass?”
Cassian nodded, then smiled. The smile was important. “Not like Charles did. He hurt my heart.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “It’s in here. It’s not a bruise or anything. It’s just that he looked at me like I was a stranger who’d wandered in off the street, and I’m not a stranger. I’m his omega. He’s taken me to the pub and claimed me in front of his friends.”
Colin was quiet for a long moment, and Cassian started to worry that he’d just said the wrong thing.
“But it’s okay.” Cassian straightened on the stool. “I know what to do. I’ll have sex with him. He’s always happy when we have sex. Then he’ll talk to me again, and I can tell him about Belgium and the pigeons properly.” He nodded at his own logic. “I was going to offer today, but he’d shut himself in the kitchen, so I couldn’t.”
Colin closed the notebook, his palm flat on the cover. “Cassian. You don’t owe anyone sex to make them feel better. And you did absolutely nothing wrong today.”
Cassian’s brow creased. “I don’t think I owe him, Colin,” he corrected. “I’m just saying that’s what works. He’s happy after sex, and I like it when he’s happy.”
Colin came around, pulled Cassian off the stool, and folded him into a hug that pressed Cassian’s face to the soft cotton of his shoulder.
