In the grand courtroom of the Phoenix Empire, Enigma Jethro sat at the head of a long table, on a throne-like golden seat that seemed to radiate authority.
His posture was rigid, and his serious, impatient expression made his striking features appear older than his twenty-seven years, but he was still utterly captivating.
His bluish eyes swept across the twelve Alphas seated at the table, six on each side, brows furrowed in silent thought.
Then drifted to the eleven women arranged in two perfect rows across the room, each radiating beauty, their dresses flowing and clinging with effortless elegance.
At the far end of the table, Grey stood, head bowed, fingers laced tightly in front of him.
He wished he could lift his head and stand confidently, like the Alpha everyone thought he was, just as his father had always pressured him to, but he couldn't.
An omega like him didn't have that courage. In front of an enigma and a room full of Alphas, it was a fight no omega could win even if they wanted, because their dominance pheromones pressed Omegas down.
After a long, suffocating silence, one of the Alphas rose. When Grey heard his voice, he didn't need to look to know who it was... Alpha Norman, leader of the highest pack.
"My Lord," he said, bowing slightly to Jethro. "I do not understand why we are still here, trying to think harder about the solution. This is a man, and you are definitely not going to marry a man because it wouldn't make any sense. Let's end this. It wouldn't be your fault to leave out BlueMoon Pack, they have no girl with Alpha blood, they only have a prince which you obviously cannot marry."
The other Alphas murmured their agreement, everyone except Alpha Harris, Grey's father.
Another Alpha, who often stood beside Norman, rose. "My Lord, I agree. Leaving the BlueMoon Pack out doesn't mean you have breaken any ancient rules. You've already married into all the other packs like you're supposed to, and you didn't marry into BlueMoon because they don't have anyone suitable for you."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "I don't even know if keeping this pack is worth it anymore. All it does is drag the empire down instead of helping it rise. It contributes nothing. It seems doomed, or perhaps forgotten by the moon goddess. Everyone in that pack is weak, even the Alpha prince who should be strong enough to assert some power, but he keeps his head low! Alpha Harris and his Luna are unable to get another child! What's even worth keeping in that pack? Maybe it would be better to dissolve it and distribute its people among the able packs."
This time, the murmurs of agreement were louder, everyone approving what had just been said.
Grey's fingers clenched tightly.
He knew everything they had said was true, and part of him just wished it could happen exactly as they suggested, let the pack be dissolved, end these endless meetings and discussions sooner, because deep down, he knew that was how it was going to be anyways.
Of course, he wasn't going to marry Lord Jethro.
Because it wouldn't make any sense to him if that happened. But even as he told himself that, something tugged at him as always, the same thing that always tugged at him whenever he was near a man.
Somewhere inside, he had always known that men stirred something in him that no woman ever had.
Sometimes he dreamed of a man touching him, and every time he woke, he cursed the dream, certain it was wrong in every way.
But afterward, his body would crave that touch for days, no matter how much he hated it.
And now, the very thought of Lord Jethro touching him made his body react instantly, heat spreading through him, his legs growing weak.
A voice in the courtroom snapped him back to reality, and he scolded himself for daring to entertain such thoughts at a moment like this.
~
He realized that the other Alphas were still hurling degrading insults at his father, humiliating him further as if they could never get enough.
A surge of anger hit Grey all at once, his fingers clenched tighter, how he wished he could silence them forever!
But then he told himself he shouldn't care about what happened to his father.
His father had hated him and never shown him any care ever since Grey was born a boy instead of the daughter his father had wanted, a daughter he could have given to the Enigma to marry, as the ancient law demanded that the Enigma marry into every pack so that no pack was left behind in any way.
But all his parents had gotten was him, and they couldn't have another child.
What made it worse was that he was an omega, something impossible,
an omega born to a couple of alpha blood.
Grey didn't even fully understand it himself. All he knew was that he could never show it nor speak of it, a warning etched into him by his father.
His father's bitterness had been a constant shadow.
But sometimes he told himself that he understood why his father would hate him that much.
In the courtroom today, his father was no longer fighting to save his pack. Perhaps he his father had given up. And in that instant, Grey chose to give up too.
~
Finally, after all the murmurs and whispers, Enigma Jethro spoke. His voice was deep, calm and even, but carried the weight of absolute authority.
"Since ancient times," he said, "the packs have always been twelve in number, and I will not be the one to change that."
A ripple of murmurs ran through the Alphas and his eleven wives, each wondering what he meant.
Was he going to marry a man?
Or was he just going to keep the worthless pack simply to maintain the ancient number?
Grey himself was stunned by Lord Jethro's declaration, unsure of what to think.