The sharp crack of a voice split the air inside the bank.
"Hold-up! Nobody move!" an Alpha barked, his dominance lacing the command.
The force of his pheromones rolled across the room like a storm, making weaker instincts curl inward in fear.
He rose from his seat with slow menace, and four more Alphas stood in different corners of the bank, their presence suffocating. The first Alpha fired a warning shot into the ceiling, the sound ricocheting off marble walls. Panic erupted. People screamed and crouched down, clerks scrambling under their desks, trembling with the instinctive urge to submit.
The security guard reached for his gun—too slow. A single shot from the Alpha leader dropped him instantly. Blood pooled on the tile, and terror choked the air even more. Two of the Alphas moved to block the doors, shoulders squared, eyes sharp, their pheromones thick like smoke to keep everyone cowed.
The other two stormed the counters, slamming a duffel bag onto the desk.
"Fill it. Now."
Hands shook as clerks stuffed bills into the bag, their fear scent pungent, their hands trembling so badly that the notes scattered.
Then—sirens. Police cars and SWAT vans screeched outside.
"Cops!" one Alpha at the door snarled.
A voice boomed from a megaphone outside: "Surrender peacefully. Don't harm the hostages."
"They won't take us alive," the Alpha leader growled, slinging the bag of cash over his shoulder. He strode toward the entrance—until a desperate civilian lunged at him.
The struggle was brief. The Alpha's superior strength crushed resistance easily. A gunshot rang out. The man crumpled, blood spreading across his shirt from the wound in his abdomen.
"No!" a boy screamed, breaking free and rushing to his father's fallen body. "Dad!"
The leader sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. He leveled his gun at the child's head.
"You want to end up like him, boy? Don't glare at me like that. I'll wipe that defiance right off your face."
But the child didn't cower. His wide, tear-filled eyes burned with raw hatred. Something in that unflinching gaze made the Alpha's lips curl with irritation. His finger tightened on the trigger—
"Enough!"
The voice cut through the room, sharp and defiant. A male stepped forward from the crowd—tall, broad-shouldered, his presence commanding. Pheromones flared as his dominance surged, colliding with the Alphas' oppressive aura.
Asheren.
"How dare you point a gun at a child?" His eyes were cold, dangerous.
The Alpha leader flinched at the sudden clash of dominance, confusion flashing in his eyes—who was this man? Asheren ignored him, kneeling swiftly by the fallen father.
He pressed his hand firmly against the bleeding wound, his movements sure and protective.
"It's okay," Asheren murmured to the boy, his voice gentling even as his body bristled with power. "We can save him. Stay strong for your dad."
The boy sobbed, clutching his father's hand.
Asheren looked up again, his eyes meeting the Alpha's across the chaos. A dangerous glint sparked there—a silent promise. His pheromones snapped in the air, protective and unyielding, wrapping around the boy and his father like a shield.
For the first time, the Alpha leader felt his grip on the room waver.
"Why are you staring at me like that? You want to fight?" the Alpha snarled, his grip tightening on the young man's collar.
His gaze locked on pale lavender eyes — eyes too delicate, framed by features soft enough to seem breakable. But those eyes glared back like a blade, sharp and unyielding, warning him.
"Mister, he's losing too much blood," the stranger said calmly, nodding toward the injured man on the floor. "We need to get him to a hospital before—"
"I don't care!" the Alpha cut him off, voice rough with dominance. "Who the hell do you think you are?" He shoved closer, dragging the young man up by the front of his shirt.
The crowd of hostages gasped, but no one dared move. Fear drove their eyes back to the floor.
"Why are you staring at me like that? You want to fight?" the Alpha snarled, his grip tightening on the young man's collar. His gaze locked on pale lavender eyes — eyes too delicate, framed by features soft enough to seem breakable. But those eyes glared back like a blade, sharp and unyielding, warning him.
"Mister, he's losing too much blood," the young stranger said calmly, nodding toward the injured man on the floor. "We need to get him to a hospital before—"
"I said I don't care!" the Alpha cut him off, voice rough with dominance. "You dare to defy me? Who the hell are you?" The crowd of hostages gasped, but no one dared move. Their shoulders hunched, their heads dropped lower. Fear drove their eyes back to the floor.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that? Do you really think you can fight me?" the Alpha growled again.
The young man's voice remained steady, unnervingly calm.
"We don't have to settle this with violence. One man bleeding out is already too many for today. Let go of me now, and surrender peacefully. No one else has to—"
The Alpha cut him off by slamming him hard against the wall, one hand closing viciously around his throat. The sound of impact cracked like thunder in the bank. Several hostages flinched, some muffling cries against their hands. One clerk silently mouthed a prayer.
The Alpha's pheromones spilled out, heavy and oppressive, a suffocating display of dominance meant to crush weaker instincts into submission. Hostages whimpered, their bodies trembling.
A woman covered her child's eyes, both of them shivering as if the air itself was too heavy to breathe.
"I'm an Alpha," he hissed. "And you're just an Omega. You don't stand a chance against me."
He said it with a grin that didn't reach his eyes, gaze lingering on the young man before him. For a moment, he simply stared—long enough to realize just how beautiful the boy truly was. If he hadn't been dressed in men's clothes, anyone would have mistaken him for a woman. His delicate features screamed of an Omega — the kind others would fight over.
And he, as an Alpha, found himself drawn to him despite every instinct that told him not to be.
"In a way, you're not bad to look at," he murmured. "When we get out of here, I'll take you with me. I'll have some fun—and you'll entertain me, little Omega."
The man's voice dripped with hunger as his fingers traced the boy's face, sliding down to his throat. The young man's hands clenched, the only sign of restraint he allowed himself.
Omega.
The word twisted in his mind like a thorn. His lips curved into the faintest, almost hidden smirk.
"You've got the police and SWAT outside," he said quietly, voice low but steady. "Do you really think you'll walk out of here alive? Surrender, and maybe you'll get away with a lighter sentence. You might even make it out with only a few broken bones."
The Alpha scoffed. "As long as I have hostages, they won't dare enter. And don't forget—my rank is higher than yours. I can break you whenever I want."
He slammed Asheren against the wall, expecting pain. Expecting fear.
But there was none.
Asheren's pale lavender eyes didn't waver. They held steady—calm, relentless—until something unfamiliar flickered in the Alpha's chest. Unease.
"Pretending to be brave?" the Alpha sneered. "I could crush you like an insect."
Asheren's voice dropped, soft but deadly.
"You would crush me?" His tone was almost a whisper, but it carried like thunder.
"Alphas like you—flaunting your strength, using your rank to hurt the weak—you're exactly what I despise most. Men like you should never have been allowed to walk this world."
And then, the air shifted.
At first, it was just a trace: a sweetness like night-blooming flowers, delicate and faint. But it spread—too fast, too thick—clinging to every breath, seeping beneath the skin. What began as beauty became suffocation. What was tender turned unbearable.
The Alpha's breath hitched. The scent was intoxicating… and terrifying.