A cherry-red Porsche idled outside the Rudiego mansion, the morning sun gleaming off its hood.
Alex leaned against the driver's side, lazily chewing gum, while Kevin scrolled through something on his phone.
"Tch. What's taking him so long?" Alex complained, "Did our Highness oversleep?"
Kevin didn't look up. "He's not answering texts either."
"Maybe he finally OD'd on Omega perfume," Alex muttered.
The tall double doors swung open, and Isaac stepped out.
Shades on, hair a little more dishevelled than usual. He didn't look at them. Just yawned, hands in his pockets as he strolled over.
Alex whistled. "Morning, sunshine."
Kevin opened the car door. "You good?"
"No." Isaac ignored the question. "Drive."
Alex whistled low. "Yikes."
Kevin started the car. Silence blanketed the ride until halfway down the hill.
After a moment of silence, Isaac spoke first. "She wasn't in school after lunch."
Kevin: "Yeah. I noticed."
Alex: "Who?"
Kevin: "Probably Aimi Lionesse.
Isaac: "She left in a hurry."
Alex leaned over the seat. "Unwell?"
"She looked… off. Flushed. Was it the food?"
Kevin's eyes flicked to the rearview. "Or maybe you triggered her heat."
Isaac's head turned slowly. "What?"
"You touched her," Kevin said calmly. "She reacted after. It's a possibility."
Alex's eyes widened. "Wait- that only happens if…"
"If the Omega's suppressants fail in the presence of a highly compatible Alpha." Kevin finished.
A pause.
Alex: "damn your pheromones must be cracked Issy."
Kevin: "That's not how biology works."
"Hold up." Isaac raised one eyebrow. "Y'all knew she was an Omega?"
Kevin: "Obviously."
Alex laughed. "Have you ever paid attention to anyone who's not?"
"Hmm."
Alex: "'Nd Yeah, what Kev said made sense." Silence thinking, "you even laid a picnic for her in the basement."
Kevin: "Down bad."
Alex: "She felt different, didn't she? Could she really be this 'fated mate' myth Issy?"
Isaac leaned back, "..."
Kevin: "It's Rare, but not impossible. You've always been lonely, haven't you, Issac. Like searching for something."
Isaac: "Okay enough with the bull shit."
"heh..."
Alex: "So… are we gonna talk abt who the hell are 'Lionesses'? I've never heard of that family."
Isaac assumed, "Probably some small, unimportant people. The only reason we wouldn't know."
Kevin tapped his phone. "I did some digging last night. Her family had no social media, no public records. Nothing besides those released by academia about her awards."
"Seriously? But why? Who are they?" Alex raised a brow.
Kevin scoffed. "Her dad seems to own a top-tier weapons manufacturing group, black ops kind of stuff. They sell to governments and fund some of the biggest security R&D labs in the country."
Alex: "So they big then."
...
"Rich or?"
Kevin: "They're loaded. Like, military-grade loaded"
Isaac: "Really...Compared to Rudiego?"
Kevin: "I don't know. All their businesses are private. But their operation seems to be the opposite of Rudiego's, obsessing over this privacy ordeal 'n all. "
"Hehh...private to the point that no one's heard of them, even though they're that big?" Alex muttered. "Fishy."
"Yeah," Kevin said. "It's hard just to find out who they were. "
"She's a bit strange then," Isaac observed.
Alex: "No shit Sherlock. The girl's a genius secret princess who builds bombs in her basement."
Kevin: "Not one way to put it but m'k."
They pulled into the Cove Crest parking lot.
As they entered the main building, students parted as usual, but Isaac's eyes were searching.
The day passed by unremarkably.
The lecture hall was dim, the windows half-draped in lazy sunlight.
Isaac sat in the back row, sprawled out with one leg propped up and a pen tapping against his thigh.
She wasn't in school.
Not even in the one course they shared.
By the time lunch rolled around, the sun was already high, casting sharp shadows across the courtyard.
Alex kicked open the cafeteria door, sunglasses still on indoors, chewing on the end of a toothpick.
"Cafeteria," he muttered. "Nothing."
"Not in the backyard." Kevin slid into the seat beside Isaac. "Not in the library either."
Isaac stared blankly at the empty table.
"She's not in school," he muttered.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "Maybe Kev was right. You actually triggered her heat."
The headache since morning was getting worse. Isaac stood up.
"Where ya goin?"
"The basement," Isaac muttered. "Loitering around like this's gonna get the student council on our ass." A pause. "Let's not push it. We're lucky Luna's absent."
(Luna is the student council president.)
And so, they entered the underworld.
The music was soft today with lower bass.
Emily looked up from her seat, legs crossed neatly, eyes tracking him the second he entered.
He walked past without a word and dropped into his usual spot.
Emily hesitated, then stood and approached.
She perched herself beside him. "You've been avoiding me," she said.
Isaac didn't look at her. "I've been busy."
Emily's voice trembled, just a little. "Is it because of her?"
That made him look.
"She's not even here," he answered. "I said I was busy."
"You seem tired. Let me help you-" Issac stopped her hand from reaching his pants.
"Don't. " He leaned his head back, eyes on the ceiling, "I wanna be alone."
"..."
Lionesses estate:
Aimi lay still, curled beneath the silk sheets that clung too tightly to her feverish skin. The room was dim, curtains drawn.
A damp towel rested against her forehead, doing little to ease the heat pooling low in her belly.
"She's always been this sensitive," the doctor murmured beside the bed, flipping through a digital chart. "But this time, it's more severe. Her pheromones are overflowing. The suppressant barely held for half a day."
He paused. "It's as if her body is… reacting to something. Or someone."
Her lashes fluttered faintly, eyes glued to the ceiling.
Her parents sat on either side, worry etched deep into their faces.
"Have you been near anyone recently?" her mother asked finally.
"No," she lied. "I don't talk to people."
"But..." The doctor hesitated. "This kind of reaction can't happen on its own—"
"Maybe it's stress," her father cut in. "Or a side effect of the new formula?"
Her mom nodded. "Aimi really won't talk to anyone. We should trust her."
The doctor didn't look convinced. He thought quietly for a moment.
"Well...We'll have to maintain the dosage for now. There's not much we can do to help her condition. Any more suppressants may be dangerous and risk her ability to bear children in the future. So I can only recommend leaving Ms Aimi at home for monitoring."
Her mother leaned in, brushing her hair back. "Rest, darling. We'll reschedule your exams if need be, okay?"
Aimi only nodded.
The doctor packed up his kit. "Keep her hydrated. We'll monitor the suppressant's effect. But if her body keeps rejecting the dose…"
"We'll call," her father assured, ushering him out.
A moment passed.
"Mom, Dad..." Aimi voiced suddenly, "Do you guys know the Rudiego family?"
They blinked.
"We do."
"We met them at that winter banquet a few years back. Everyone knows them. The Rudiego are massive. They seem to run countless public fronts from all sorts of areas, tech dev, real estate, stocks, and offshore deals. There's nothing they're not involved in."
"That family's always had a reputation for being overly flashy." Her father recalled.
"Ah.."
"Why do you ask?"
"Hm." Then suddenly, her mother remembered. "Right. They have a son, don't they? Around your age. He goes to your school, right, Aimi?"
"I've seen him. We never talked, but I just saw he seems popular."
"Hmm.." Her mother smiled. "Keep it that way then."
"It's best to avoid," her father sighed. "That family's nothing but trouble. Too much showing off. You understand, right? Nothing good comes from that kind of mess."
"Yes, Dad."
"Okay, enough chatting." Her mother stood. "We'll let you rest."
They left quietly, the soft click of the door closing behind them. Aimi turned her face into the pillow, trembling.
No matter how hard she tried to calm herself, her body screamed. Her thighs rubbed together, hot and aching. Her breath quickened again.
She hated it.
The memory of his kiss played on a loop. Her lips still tingled. Her waist still felt the ghost of his hands. Her body responded to just the thought of him.
She whimpered, pressing her face into the pillow as her fingers caressed her own clit.
She slipped into the blanket, breath catching as she pushed into the entrance, imagining if it was his hand.
It was humiliating and undeniably pathetic. But the ache was just too strong.
Every time her fingers moved, she saw his face.
"Isaac…"
Tears welled in her eyes as release crept closer. She hated him. Hated herself even more.