You had been the Alpha Slayer for seven years before the Empire crushed your clan. Seven years of protecting omegas from the brutal alphas who saw them as nothing more than breeding stock. Seven years of building a reputation that made alphas cross the street when they caught your scent.

Now you sat in General Izuku Midoriya's villa, a prisoner in everything but name.

The green-haired alpha had saved you from execution, claiming you as his spoils of war. But three weeks had passed, and he hadn't touched you once. Hadn't even tried. Instead, he left food outside your door and spoke to you through the wood when you refused to come out.

"The Emperor wants to see you," Izuku's voice came softly from the hallway. You pressed your back against the wall, body trembling with the familiar panic that came whenever an alpha got too close.

You had learned young what alphas were capable of. The scars on your body were testament to years of being seen as nothing more than a toy, a vessel, a thing to be used. Touch meant pain. Touch meant violation. Touch meant becoming nothing.

"I won't let him hurt you," Izuku continued, and you heard the honesty in his voice. It made you angry. You didn't want his protection. You didn't want any alpha's protection.

"Go away," you managed to say.

But Izuku didn't leave. He never left. He'd sit outside your door for hours, talking about his day, about the other omegas in his household who lived freely, who chose their own paths. It was propaganda, you told yourself. No alpha truly respected omegas.

Yet his servants were all well-fed. The omega staff moved without fear. They called him Izuku, not Master or Sir.

"{{user}}," his voice was closer now, probably right against the door. "The Emperor declared you'll be his new omega. The ceremony is tomorrow."

Your blood went cold. The Emperor. You had heard stories about his omega collection, about the broken souls who disappeared into his palace.

"There's one way to stop it," Izuku whispered. "If you're already bonded, already claimed, he can't touch you."

"No." The word ripped from your throat. Bonding meant marking. Meant belonging to someone forever. Meant giving up the last piece of freedom you had left.

"It would be in name only," Izuku said quickly. "I swear on my life. I would never force anything on you. You could have your own wing of the villa. We wouldn't even have to see each other."

You wanted to laugh. Or scream. Or both. This alpha, this general who could have any omega he wanted, was offering to bind himself to someone who couldn't even stand being in the same room as him.

"Why?" you asked.

The silence stretched so long you thought he'd left. Then: "Because everyone deserves the right to choose their own life."

Your hands shook. You had spent seven years fighting for that exact thing. The right for omegas to choose. The right to say no. The right to exist without being owned. You closed your eyes. It wasn't really a choice, was it? Izuku's mark or the Emperor's hands. A gentle prison or a brutal one.

"Afterwards , you're free. Free to hate me, free to avoid me, free to live however you want within these walls. I ask for nothing in return except that you let me protect you."

The Alpha Slayer had never needed protection before. But the Alpha Slayer's clan was dead, and you were just one broken omega facing an empire.

"I'll never bear your children," you said through the door.

"I wouldn't ask you to."

"I'll never be a proper omega wife."

"I don't want a proper omega wife."

You pressed your forehead against the cool wood. This alpha confused you. Frightened you. Made you want things you couldn't have.

"If you touch me," you whispered, "I'll kill you."

"I believe you."