It was barely dawn when Noah stirred awake. He didn't remember falling asleep. One moment he was staring at the cracked ceiling, the next—dreams. Fractured memories of screams, cold floors, and the unbearable scent of Alpha heat.
He sat up fast, gasping.
> "Nightmares?" a voice mumbled.
Eun-Ha was still sprawled out on the makeshift couch, a blanket barely covering his chest. His voice was raspy, half-asleep. His eyes glowed faintly in the dim light.
Noah nodded. "Sorry if I—"
> "Don't apologize for surviving."
Noah froze.
That line. It was too kind. Too dangerous. It scraped something raw inside him.
> "You always say things like that?" he asked, voice hoarse.
Eun-Ha yawned. "Only when I'm too tired to lie."
He sat up, ran a hand through his messy silver-black hair, and grabbed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. But he didn't light one. He just held it in his hand like a crutch.
> "Why did you really run, Noah?" he asked.
Noah swallowed.
> "Because my brother didn't."
Eun-Ha looked at him sharply.
> "Alpha?"
> "No. Omega," Noah whispered. "He tried to protect me. They broke him for it. When I found him… he didn't even smell like himself anymore."
Eun-Ha said nothing for a long moment.
Then, softly:
> "You want revenge?"
Noah blinked. "No... I want to be free. That's worse, isn't it?"
Eun-Ha smirked. "No. That's real."
He stood and moved closer, steps slow, deliberate. Not threatening—but not harmless either. Noah tensed.
> "You don't trust me," Eun-Ha said.
> "Should I?"
> "No," he admitted. "But you will."
Before Noah could react, Eun-Ha leaned down. Not touching. Just close enough that their scents started to mix.
Noah's body shivered without permission. His instincts flared—Omega instincts that had been buried under trauma and fear.
> "Don't," Noah whispered.
> "I'm not doing anything," Eun-Ha said. "That's you reacting."
He pulled back, giving Noah space again.
But the air still sizzled between them.
> "I don't want to react," Noah admitted.
> "Then control it. That's what they fear, you know. Omegas who don't submit. Who feel everything—rage, desire, pain—and still make their own choices."
Noah stared at him. The lines on Eun-Ha's neck, the tattoos on his arms, the barely-healed wounds on his back—they all told a story.
A story of a broken boy who refused to kneel.
Noah wasn't there yet.
But maybe… just maybe… he could learn.