Only

37

KAI

The smell was insufferable, but luckily it dimmed slightly from yesterday. I could instantly spot every werewolf as they all looked over with a glare, as I walked down the school hallway, hand in hand with Shadow.

I looked over at Shadow and he smiled at me. "Don't pout," his grinned widened when I frowned. "You're too cute."

"Don't be so gay," I joked looking away as a blush worked its way up my neck, willing the heat to go away. He affected me too much. I was just starting to wrap my head around my new reality. I was an omega, in a pact who treated omegas a property. Becoming who I am made me realize our pact had a lot of flaws and our alpha was a horrid person.

"Fuck, I forgot Mr. Finn wanted to talk to me about missing a few assignments," Shadow huffed, giving my hand a squeeze before dropping it. "I'll catch up with you later," he gave me a quick kiss on the lips and was gone before I could even kiss back. I could feel a dumb grin pulling my mouth upwards.

So distracted with watching Shadow round the corner, I nearly bumped into Blue. He didn't look so good, his face twisted in a scowl, his shirt was loose and wrinkly on him as if he slept in it for days, his hair looked extra greasy and was sticking up all over the place.

"You fucking stink, I can't believe he can even stand to be near you," Blue sneered. "Everyone knows you're exclusively being fucked by Shadow, no need to try to hide his scent on you with that putrid smell."

I had a mean thought that looking at him, I couldn't believe he wasn't the one who became an omega, being such a twink. I tried to shake the sudden bitterness that for a moment he had Shadow's attention. But I didn't have anything to worry about, being we spent almost every second together. Wait, was that healthy?

"Don't be jealous Blue," I winked at him, walking away, needing to work out the sudden dark thoughts that were filtering through my brain. I worried too much, I knew. It felt amazing being with Shadow, but were we not borderline obsessed with each other? If I told him I wanted to spend a few days away, how would he react? I shook the thoughts, no, that was why we now had a safe word. As long as he respected it, we would be ok. It was like a safety net.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, alerting me to a text. Shadow's name flashed on the screen.

Miss you already

The cheesy fool. Yet again, I knew I wore a dumb grin. Fuck, I missed him too. I got another text right after from the two app geniuses, Oliver and Silas.

We have something to show you

meet us at computer lab during lunch hours.

I hope they finished the app. The adults didn't seem to be onto us, but they weren't as dumb as they seemed at times. It was a huge risk to our lives, what we were doing. And being cautious would keep us safe and alive.

The first few classes went by in a blur, with some weres grumbling as they passed me by.

Oliver and Silas were at the lab when I arrived and by their excited looks, I could tell progress had been made.

"Come look," Oliver beckoned me over.

"Dude," Silas covered his nose as I approached and I noticed Oliver elbow him as he looked at me with wide eyes. "He could be our future alpha, shut up," he whispered to his friend, his head down. Silas looked guilty. Hearing those words made my stomach twist. I hated how I was stealing Shadow's thunder and standing before everyone as a fraud. Once everyone found out I was an omega, they'd never look at me with the respect they were now. I would be less than nothing or, if we became a progressive group, I would be disregarded, ignored.

Shadow was the real leader, but I didn't want to become invisible, less than, just because of what was decided for me. Was I dimming Shadow, somehow? By not being who I was and owning up to being an omega, I was forcing Shadow to do the same. To not be who he was.

Here I was, agonizing about our relationship and over if Shadow would turn out to be a good boyfriend, when all along it was I who was a shitty boyfriend. I felt the guilt all the way through them showing me the app and how it worked. I gave them the ok to send out the link to download.

"Good job guys," I praised them and they beamed at me as I left. It felt good though, I knew one day soon Shadow and I would have to come out as alpha and omega, but for now, it felt nice to see how it would be, if it was I who became alpha.

That glow left soon, as Shadow jogged down the hall towards me. As if he couldn't get to me fast enough. Now the guilt was back.

"We need to talk," my words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"No," his expression hardened. "I won't accept it." He pointed a pen he had in his hand at me. "We're not breaking up, let's get to lunch, it's almost over." He grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I chuckled, letting him lead me. We passed by Blue, and he glared at our intwined hands. Geez, he was everywhere, or maybe I was just now noticing him. Either way, I was glad this was the last year of school. I couldn't wait to see less of him and his glare and negative energy he sent our way. It was too bad he was also a werewolf and was apart of the same pack I was. Before I could appease Shadow, he continued on. "I've gotten a lot better. You have no idea, I haven't growled at anyone yet today, even when I saw  Noah all over you today in class."

I barked out a laugh. "Noah? He just lent me a pencil."

Shadow growled low in his throat as his hand squeezed mine. "Don't remind me," he said through clenched teeth. "He smiled at you, his hand brushed against yours. All in front of my face."

I laughed again. "Fine then, I give you props for not ripping out Noah's throat for lending me a pencil and daring for his fingertips to get close to mine." I bumped my shoulder into his. "But that's not at all what I wanted to talk about. You're amazin-"

Shadow groaned. "Are you about to give me the, it isn't you, it's me speech?" He warily looked over at me as we picked up a tray and started loading it with greasy fried foods.

"I mean kind of," I said and rushed to add, "I'm not trying to break up with you," at his horrified looked. "I feel bad, I feel horrible, like I"m taking something away from you, by leading the others while you stand by, like I'm dimming your light."

He looked at me with a 'are you serious' look, grabbing my free hand, he pulled it to his lips and kissed my knuckles. My heart roared to life, pounding damn near out of my chest at his affection. "I am gladly your shadow, your best friend, your protector," he said in a low voice as we made our way to a corner table. "You can't dim the light of someone who prefers the shadows. I like you leading the way, I like you speaking for us, I like to hang back and watching you shine," he smiled at me, his wicked smile and I couldn't help but grab his face and pull him into a deep kiss. I wasn't big on pda, at all, but for a moment I forgot everyone in the world existed but Shadow as our tongues slid together. When someone whistled, I broke away, face turning red as I focused on my tray of food, shoving it into my mouth to stop myself from jumping Shadow right here and now. He hummed in the back of his throat, I could feel his heated gaze on me as if he too was fighting the urge to do what he really wanted to do.

"Fuck," he whispered and out of my peripheral, I saw him adjust the front of his pants. My eyes widened when he grabbed my hand and placed it over his clothed hard on, so quickly, I didn't have time to process and immediately snatched my hand back, looking over to gape at him.

My hand felt warm from where I touched him as if any part that made contact with him glowed underneath. Fuck, I loved him so much, it hurt.

"Later," I grumbled to him as he smirked as started digging into his food.