Page 2 of For What It's Worth
Chapter Two
I was too early to my first class. I needed coffee to ensure I could sit still for two hours so I had put in extra time in the morning ensuring I could wait in any potential long lines and make it to class on time. As it turned out, the baristas were prepared for the long line, and I waited maybe ten minutes to order and then got my drink. Now, I was slowly sipping my Flat White so I had some for the class because if history was any indication, I would fall asleep without something to drink.
It wasn’t a lack of sleep or even an innate desire to be somewhere else—I wanted to be at college. I wanted to learn. My body wanted me to sleep whenever a professor droned on. At first, I had assumed it was an omega-thing, but if movies were any indication, omegas felt supercharged and excited around alphas, so it was really just a Koda-thing.
Adding to my present humiliation, not even the professor had arrived yet, so I was suck sitting outside. This building, an add-on to the older part of the academy, had ‘hallways’ outside which meant I wasn’t even sitting on a nice plush carpet, but red dirt staining my jeans and ruining the cute little flowers along the bottoms. There were a few other doors, none of them open, and the whole quad was vacant except for me. My only saving grace was the sun already out and, despite the small chill from the wind, warming me up. The weather would only get colder, though, so timing my coffee runs would be imperative to keeping all my fingers.
I smelled the company before I heard them. Six people. Three intoxicating male scents and three flowery female ones. The perfect numbers obviously indicated a pack which did nothing to make me feel better about sitting on the ground with zero friends and too much time before the door to the class would even open. I wasn’t sure how classes worked for pack members—if there even were any—that was probably something covered at the orientation.
Deciding not to look too much like a loner, I stood up and moved a little farther away from the door, taking a bunch of little sips of my drink as if actively drinking made me look more natural.
The closer the pack got, the stronger their scents became, giving me details to the newcomers. My first sniff told me the males were alphas and the females betas. The next sniff blocked out any other distinction since the couples were covered in sex, mingling the finer details of their scents. A growl startled me before I realized it was coming from my chest. I forced my inner omega to calm the hell down, breathing through my mouth as inconspicuously as possible. It wasn’t uncommon for me to feel jealous of alphas giving attention to others, but jealousy this aggressive was new. Fucking omega quirks.
“Oh look,” one of the females said in a fake hush. “An overexcited freshman already arrived.”
There were some chuckles from the other females, and I was glad my first emotion was frustration. I clung to it, fanning the emotion because the last thing I wanted was to give them more ammunition with pinked cheeks and the scent of me embarrassed. I went with the “pretend I didn’t hear” act and took another sip of my coffee. At least the males didn’t laugh, which I hoped meant one of them was a professor and forced to act cordial to the newbies hanging out by their doors.
“Morning.” The male in front didn’t look at me as he pulled out a key to the door I was waiting in front of. Thank goodness. I would rather the disinterested male than the beta female. Screw designation loyalty, betas were basically taught to fight for their place in this world among ‘perfect’ alphas and ‘chosen one’ omegas, and if one managed to snag an alpha? Let’s just say that betas living the good life tended to forget they once struggled too.
The other couples moved into the room, but the male I assumed was the professor—shit, what was the professor’s name for this class? —crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for me to say something.
He dressed like a male that just left a photoshoot for the coming winter catalogue. Brown pants with faint yellow stripes showed off his muscular thighs, an off-white shirt paired with a darker brown tie, and even his jacket was over his forearm like he was posing. The stubble on his chin and cheeks, the sharp nose, and the thick eyebrows made his eyes seem harsh despite the neutral expression on his face.
That close, I had no choice but to inhale his scent. It reminded me of something fresh. Clean. Even if it was tainted with what I could only assume was the beta females sprayed on perfume based on the chemically floral scent.
“You look pretty young to be a professor.” Genius Koda, insult the male in charge of your grades. But I wasn’t wrong. He had to be only a few years older than me. Maybe twenty-five?
“I’m twenty-six with my master’s degree. I assure you; I can teach Quantum Mechanics just fine. But if you want to verify my credentials, Miss…” He trailed off, obviously hoping I would insert my name into his verbal blank. Just his voice had my inner omega wanting to please him by telling him my name, but I managed to hold back that particular instinct.
“No, I’m good. Based on the tuition to attend, I’m assured the Academy would only pay for the best.” The young professor preened at the compliment, which meant it would have been the perfect place to stop, but I couldn’t hold back the need to test him. “Then again, Academy chancellors and other board members would probably get a pay increase if they were able to hire cheap labor. Have you compared your salary to other professors? Preferably from a different school district to compare?”
There was a flicker of amusement in his scent, a moment where he stopped meeting my eyes and took in my cropped shirt and low-ride floral jeans, before his face returned to his look of indifference. In a stern voice that couldn’t lead to anything good for me, he asked, “What’s your name?”
“What’s your name?” Ah yes, the five-year-old come back.
The male raised an eyebrow, alpha arrogance radiating from him, but right before I was about to give in, one of the males from inside the classroom came barreling out.
“Jen, what the fuck are you doing, man? Your girl is getting prissy. Oh hey, who’s the side piece?”
The two males, most likely pack based on their familiarity, couldn’t be farther apart in appearance. Professor Jenson—I remembered then—had his hair cut so close to his head I doubted I could’ve gotten a good grip on it while the newcomer had gorgeous long, blond hair with curls that just screamed ‘surfer dude’. Where Professor Jenson was stoic, his body large and unmoving like he was eternally serious, the surfer-wannabe followed his stereotype looking laid back despite the black dress slacks and plain white button up t-shirt. He even had the first two buttons of his shirt undone, hinting at a bare chest. I would bet one of my favorite pillows Professor Jenson had hair on his chest like the perfect counterpart to surfer dude.
Both of their scents together made a direct line to my core, somehow stroking an arousal I’d only felt in the safety of my nest when I was deep in my imagination hoping to find some sexual relief. My primal instincts forced my beta senses to the back, showing images in my mind of surfer dude underneath me, forcing my hips up and down while I straddled him. Professor Jenson behind me, whispering in my ear how good I was taking his packmate’s cock while he forced my hands behind his head and played with my nipples. My tongue would beg Professor Jenson to mark me. He would pull my hair back in his grip, the intensity making me gasp and tighten my inner muscles around his packmate, while he left his claim on my skin…
The wet feeling in my panties pulled me out of my fantasy of the two packmates. Shit, okay, as long as they didn’t smell me, it wouldn’t be a problem. My natural odor might not be one of an omega, but any alpha would be more than able to tell my designation when I was turned on. It was how I learned I wasn’t actually a beta, despite the claims otherwise. Usually, I was better at controlling myself around alpha pheromones, but diving into a sex fantasy was making it exponentially worse. They just smelled so good. Like freshly washed linen and a desert rainstorm.
I think the males were talking, but I was so focused on needing to get to the bathroom, I interrupted. “Okay, well, I’ll be back in time for class.”
In my mind, I managed to walk away normally, but in reality, I was squeezing my thighs together so tightly, I worried I looked like I literally had a stick up my ass.
Chapter Three
Just a normal first day of classes with me in the bathroom wiping away the excess slick on my panties. Okay, now I knew those two alphas together had me imagining sexy times, making them dangerous. But I’d made it through puberty in high school without getting outed as an omega. I wasn’t getting caught now. Despite the lock, I kept glancing at the door, fear convincing my rational brain someone was about to burst through.
I looked down at the small slick stain on my underwear, maybe the size of a quarter, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to attract an alpha’s attention. Omegas might be better at smelling designations and emotions, but alphas could smell arousal from … well, I didn’t know about miles, but they could smell it in a crowded room.
Shit, like a classroom where an alpha was a professor, and all the students were either betas or alphas too.
I started pulling my jeans off, wincing as my cold fingers accidentally touched my skin. Sure, going without underwear would be uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to risk myself on the first day. Taking my underwear off, I shoved it in the trash bin that was technically meant for used tampons or pads but fuck it. All the more likely the janitor wouldn’t notice.