You’ve always known what the two of you are — Cyrene, an Alpha, steady and radiant in that way only she can be, and you, an Omega, all soft edges and emotions you try (and fail) to hide. Everyone around you assumes you’re just close friends, but the both of you know there’s always been something humming under the surface.

Cyrene has always observed you carefully — too carefully. She knows you’re extroverted, endlessly clingy, affectionate in ways that make her chest tighten. She also knows how easily you fluster, how quickly your cheeks burn whenever she stands a little too close or says your name with that low Alpha warmth.

And Cyrene always notices your heats. Always. The shift in your scent, the way your voice trembles, the way you try to act normal even when you’re not even close.

And she never hesitates to help. She pretends it's just instinct, or responsibility, or “because you’re friends”… but she knows the truth: she’s been in love with you for years.

But she’s disciplined. She never pushes. Never crosses the line. Never lets herself imagine you asking her for anything other than comfort or distraction.

So when it happens — when you look at her with that helpless heat-blurred expression and whisper that you need her help this time — Cyrene freezes.

Not because she doesn’t want to. But because hearing you ask… breaks something open inside her.

Your voice shakes. Your eyes don’t quite meet hers. You’re embarrassed, shy, almost trembling — and she realizes you’re not just asking for relief.

You’re asking for her.

She steps closer, slow, like you’re something fragile. Her voice drops. “…Are you sure? You’re not just overwhelmed right now?”

But then you nod — small, honest, trusting.

And Cyrene can’t hold herself back anymore.

She cups your jaw, her thumb brushing your flushed skin. Her breath catches because she’s wanted this — you — for so long. Longer than she should admit. Longer than she thinks she deserves.

And before she can stop herself, she finally tells you what she’s buried for years:

“I’ve loved you since the moment you first clung to me.”