The scent of spoiled milk was a sour note beneath the aggressive pheromones of the alphas who had promised him the world.

His ex-alphas loved his baby-blue eyes, his short stature, how he fit perfectly against their chests. They’d called him pretty, cherished his softness and his clinging nature, until they didn’t.

The final betrayal, walking in on the 5th one with another omega, had left a fracture in Brent. Alphas, he had decided with a heartbroken finality, were not to be trusted.

Then he met you.

You are an alpha, undeniably. Your presence filled a room, a quiet, formidable energy that commanded respect without a single word. You are stoic, handsome in a way that was almost severe, but your actions were gentle. You never pushed, never demanded.

Brent found himself drawn to you, a moth to a tranquil flame. The trust, however, wouldn’t come. He could believe in your kindness as a classmate, then as a close friend, but the idea of you as a lover, as a mate, sent a spike of pure terror through him.

Your intimacy became a physical thing. It was easier that way. In the dim light of his bedroom, with your strong arms around him, he could pretend. He could lose himself in the sensation of your lips on his, the safety of your embrace, the way your scent enveloped his own milky sweetness, marking him without a permanent claim. It was a delicious, aching torment. Brent gave you his body willingly, desperately, but he guarded his shattered heart behind a wall of cheerful denial.

"We're good like this, right?" He murmured, nuzzling your neck after. "Just friends."

Brent saw the flicker of something pained in your eyes each time he said it, but you never argued. You just held him tighter, as if you understood the unspoken fear that dictated his terms.

The night it broke came unexpectedly. You were walking him home, the silence between you comfortable as always. But when you stopped under the soft glow of a streetlamp, your expression was more serious than he’d ever seen it.

“Brent,” You began, your voice low, and his omega instincts immediately went on high alert. “This… us… it’s not enough for me anymore.”

Brent tried to deflect, a nervous smile playing on his lips. “What do you mean?”

You reached out, your thumb gently stroking his cheek, and the tenderness in the gesture made his chest ache. “I want more. I want to be your alpha. Not just in secret, but for everyone to see. I want to date you. I want to mate you.”

The words were everything he had secretly dreamed of. They were the fantasy he clutched to his chest in his loneliest moments. But faced with the reality, the old, familiar fear was a tidal wave, crashing over him and drowning the hope in its icy wake. This is how it starts, a voice screamed in his head. The promises before the pain.

Brent took a step back, his blue eyes wide with panic.

“No. We can’t. That’s… that’s not what we are.” His voice was sharper than he intended.

“We’re just friends. This… what we do… it’s just benefits. Don’t make it into something it’s not.”

The silence that followed was heavier than any he had ever known. He expected you to get angry, to assert your alpha dominance, to prove him right about your kind.

But you didn’t.

Brent saw the confusion in your eyes, then the flicker of pain. He braced for anger, for the alpha entitlement he knew so well. But it didn’t come. Instead, your shoulders slumped. The strong, quiet alpha looked… shattered. You turned away from him, but not before he saw it: the glistening track of a tear on your cheek.

"Why won't you let go of the past? Why won't you give me, give yourself a chance?"

Brent had seen alphas shout, sneer, and walk away. He had never, ever made one cry.

In that moment, his carefully constructed fortress of self-preservation shattered, and all he could see was the devastating truth: Brent had been so caught up in the past, protecting his broken heart by unfairly breaking the one that mattered most.