Chapter 112: How could an Omega do this?

The silence that followed stretched between us, thick and vibrating with an intensity that made the air feel heavy.

Reid’s eyes widened, the pupils fully dilated as the weight of my words finally hit him.

He looked completely paralyzed, his mouth parting slightly as if trying to form words that wouldn’t come. A dark, sudden flush crept up his neck, staining his cheeks red.

In the quiet, a frantic, heavy thudding echoed in the space between us. I couldn’t tell if it was his heart hammering against his ribs, or my own slamming against mine.

"Reid, you... you always hated my guts," I forced out, my voice cracking under the strain, "and I’m not asking you to accept my feelings, but I—"

"I never hated your guts," Reid suddenly interrupted, his voice dropping all of its usual defensive edge.

I blinked, the tear track on my cheek turning cold. "What are you talking about? You always trash-talked my gameplay. You called it weak. You told me I was weak."

"That was before I found out you were an Omega," he said, coming closer, his eyes locked onto mine with a desperate, raw sincerity. "An Omega playing a sport like this... it isn’t something so simple. In fact, you could be the strongest Omega I’ve ever seen and will ever see."

My heart gave an erratic beat at the sound of that. Was it happiness? Relief? Or just confusion?

Reid paused, a shadow crossing his face as he looked down at the space between us. "My mother... is an Alpha, and my father is an Omega."

I narrowed my eyes, the sudden shift in the conversation catching me completely off guard. "Isn’t that an obvious combination?"

"Yeah, but do you know what my father does?" Reid countered, a bitter tinge to his tone. "Nothing. He’s seen as incompetent and weak, and he just takes it like that, succumbing to his biology as an Omega who only knows how to bear children. He told me one day that an Omega is and will always be nothing but child bearers since there was nothing else they could do to contribute to society."

I felt a sickening twist in my stomach listening to that. Yeah, that’s the wide spread view of Omegas, especially male Omegas. Worthless, and only ever good for calming an Alphas rut and bearing children.

My first clenched at my side as I wondered, was that why he decided to treat me like trash when he first found out I was an Omega? Does he also believe an Omega’s only use is being playthings and partners for Alphas?

The thought was already eroding my thinking, making me sickening mad when Reid continued,

"I thought it was bullshit though." he said and I paused. What? "But I never gave it any more thought after that. If the world thinks like that then the world thinks like that. There’s nothing I can say to change the stereotype." He let out a gruff sigh. "At first, when I found out you were an Omega, I was shocked. Baffled. How could an Omega do this? How could an Omega slam bodies into Alphas on the ice and still come out on top? It intrigued me, and I... I changed my views."

"Changed what view?" The sheer absurdity of it made my head spin. The pain in my chest flared back to life, hot and demanding. "You treated me like garbage and tried to make me your sex slave! We became fuck buddies, dammit! I know you believe, like everyone else, that an Omega should just take an Alphas cock and bear children. None of this is making any sense!"

"Kain," he called softly.

The sound of my name made me pause. I looked at him, my breath catching when I saw the fragile, incredibly sad smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

"Do you know," Reid said, his voice dropping to a quiet whisper, "before I joined the Serpents, I used to watch your games every single day?"

I froze, the words echoing in the quiet guest room. What... What was this now?

"I thought you were cool," he let out a breathless, self-deprecating laugh, his shoulders dropping. "A Beta going against those huge Alphas. I was your fan. And I wanted to play on the same team with you. So I worked hard. I disregarded my parents’ wishes because I loved hockey, and I wished to shine on the ice with you."

"Is that..." My throat got tightly caught, the words barely squeezing through. "...the truth?"

"Yes," he said, meeting my gaze directly, completely stripped of his usual arrogance. "But after I joined, you didn’t give me the time of day. And I guess... part of my arrogant upbringing played a part in it, too. I was always given what I wanted. Everyone paid attention to me. I was the star on any floor I walked into. But then you didn’t even look at me. You didn’t see me as special when the whole world saw me as such. To you, I was just one of many stars in the sky. So, I got pissed. I got annoyed, and I... I messed up."

Suddenly, his knees buckled, and he slid down until he was sitting flat on the floor, looking up at me with an expression that was entirely stripped of pride.

"In a bid to catch your attention, I became a snob. I became a pain in the ass. And when I found out your secret... I was elated."

"Elated?" I asked with bated breath. "Why?"

"At that time, I thought, You can never look away from me now. You can never, ever not notice me, not when I’m the Alpha pumping you." A flush of genuine embarrassment crossed his features, his gaze dropping to his hands. "But I admired you even more secretly. Because an Omega who does what you do... you can never come across one twice."

I stood there, completely silent, the words washing over me. Reid was pouring out all this information, laying his pride entirely bare at my feet, and it was forcing the chaotic, painful pieces of the last few months to suddenly click into place.

The childish behavior, the constant prodding, the desperate need to dominate my attention... it wasn’t pure malice. It was a distorted, toxic attempt to make me see him.

That’s why on the ice, he at least listens to me, I realized, a dull ache blooming in my chest. That’s why he acts as the best left wing. It’s because... he’s always just wanted to play with me.

"Ah..."

The strength left my legs, and I sank onto the floor as well, my knees drawing up to my chest.

How the hell did he expect me to know all of this from the start? How was I supposed to read a fan’s adoration beneath the actions of a tyrant?

"So, Kain, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you," Reid said, shifting closer on the floor, his grey eyes burning with an emotion so intense it terrified me. "In fact, I... I—"

Before the final word could leave his lips, my hand shot forward, my palm pressing firmly against his mouth to stop him from speaking.

I didn’t want to hear him confess. My heart was already hammering so violently against my ribs just knowing he had looked up to me as a fan.

At this rate, my heart might give out entirely; it just wasn’t ready to bear the weight of those words out loud. While the truth of his feelings was finally out in the open, the trauma of how we got here didn’t just vanish. It wasn’t that easy to accept.

"Don’t say it," I whispered, my hand trembling against his lips as I looked into his wide, startled eyes. "I... I’m not ready yet."