Chapter Text
“I just don’t understand what everyone sees in him. I mean, sure, he’s attractive, but what else does he have?” Louis muttered, watching the pack leader flirt with a brunette omega across the hallway.
Liam chuckled next to him, following his gaze. “Why do you even pay attention to him if you dislike him so much?” he asked, raising his brows.
Louis frowned, hugging his book close to his chest. “It’s not like I have a choice, do I? You know just as well as I that it’s impossible for us to ignore him. Besides, he’s not making it better by flaunting his authority like that.”
When he glanced across the hallway again, he could see Harry leaning in to sniff at the omega’s neck while she was very obviously presenting it to him, his long, curly hair brushing her skin. Louis couldn’t help but scrunch his nose at the sight, not understanding how they could do something as intimate as scenting when people were watching. It made his stomach turn.
“Just look at him,” Louis grimaced, shaking his head. “Who does he think he is? The queen?”
Liam rolled his eyes but looked over at Harry anyway. “Well, he is our pack leader. Not that it gives him any right to do stuff no one else is allowed to do around here, but he does have authority whether you like it or not.”
Louis pursed his lips. “That doesn’t mean he has to show it off. It’s disturbing and very unattractive. I don’t understand what people see in him.”
“He’s charming,” Liam stated, his lips curling into a smile. “I’m pretty sure that’s what people like about him. Besides, he’s pleasing to look at. You can’t deny that.”
When Louis glared at him, Liam raised a hand, indicating he wasn’t finished. “But I agree. He shouldn’t use his title the way he does. It makes him a bit unreliable, yeah?” he said, looking at Louis expectantly.
“Yes,” Louis confirmed. “He’s supposed to be our pack leader, the alpha we look up to and trust. Using his authority doesn’t give off the vibe you’d want from someone like that.”
Liam seemed to think about what he had just said, a crease forming between his brows. “I don’t think he’s that bad, though. He does a lot of good stuff as well.”
Louis scoffed. “Like what? Talk to some buff alphas from other districts so they won’t come here and attack us? Are we even sure he’s doing a good job at it? What if we get attacked one day out of nowhere just because he’s said something stupid or hasn’t paid enough attention?”
Liam chuckled, letting Louis know he was overreacting. “He’s been our pack leader for three years. If we haven’t gotten attacked yet, I don’t think we will.”
“Probably because his uncle is helping him,” Louis snorted.
He refused to believe Harry was the reason they had been safe all this time. Even if he did show up to all those meetings, pay attention, and didn’t say anything stupid, there was no way he did anything productive. Not to mention that he was young. He was only eighteen when he became pack leader, now twenty-one. It was hard to picture him living up to his expectations.
“Besides, people are saying he killed his family, so I don’t think we should be trusting him, don’t you agree?” Louis continued, raising his brows at him pointedly.
Liam frowned. “You don’t seriously believe in that rumor, do you? Why would he, as a sixteen-year-old, kill his family to become pack leader when he knew he had to wait until he was eighteen?”
Pursing his lips, Louis shrugged. “Don’t ask me, but he’s not making it seem like it’s anything but the truth when he embraces the title as if he’s wanted it his whole life,” he huffed, looking over at the alpha still sniffing the brunette omega’s neck. “We both know you’re only defending him because you like Zayn anyway.”
Liam’s cheeks turned rosy at the mention of the alpha’s name, his eyes darting towards the floor. “That doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Right,” Louis said, watching Harry finally pull away from the omega’s neck to kiss her cheek as if to say ‘thank you for letting me scent you’. How pathetic.
As if on cue, Zayn walked over with his and Harry’s alpha friends, throwing an arm around the pack leader’s shoulder to pull him away from the omega with a wide grin on his pink lips. The other four alphas walked behind the two, laughing at God knows what. A smile was also prominent on Harry’s lips, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
They had to walk by Louis and Liam to reach their destination, catching Louis slightly off guard. Even though he had been watching them, he was too lost in thought to realize that they were heading their way. He managed to hold his breath at the very last second, though, internally letting out a sigh of relief.
Louis could see Harry’s smile falter as they passed. He didn’t know if he was mistaking it, but he could almost swear he saw Harry’s chest still as if he were holding his breath too.
“Fuck, he’s hot.”
Louis’ eyes left the retreating alphas, turning to his friend instead. The way Liam’s mouth was half-open while he was very openly staring in the direction of the alphas made him snort. “Right, it has nothing to do with it at all.”
Liam’s eyes found his. “You can’t possibly deny that Zayn’s hot, though.”
Louis tilted his head to the side, raising his brows. “Too bad he’s taken.”
Liam’s lips turned into a frown as he ran a hand through his short, brown hair. “Don’t remind me of the pain I feel every day because of that.”
Zayn had been dating an omega named Gigi for a couple of months now. He was the only one out of Harry, Caleb, Josh, Derek, and Zack who was dating someone, but it didn’t seem to affect their friendship particularly.
Zayn and Harry had always been the closest. Rumors said they were friends even before they attended the University of Doncaster, which was probably true, as they seemed to spend more time together than the others and shared dorms.
If Louis was honest, he wasn’t very invested in their group. If he could, he would have loved to ignore them, especially Harry, as he was the worst due to his power over everyone.
Louis didn’t know how to describe it correctly, but Harry could make everyone look at him by just being in the same room as him. It was like a force, something Louis’ brain told his muscles to do without thinking. Only omegas reacted so strongly to him, though, while the betas and alphas could avoid it. Louis hated it, mainly because he had spent so many years training himself not to submit to alphas. Then Harry came into his life and ruined everything, only adding to his list of reasons why he disliked him.
“Hey, guys,” a cheerful voice said.
Louis looked up to find his and Liam’s beta friend, Niall, standing in front of them, blocking their view of the hallway. “Hey.”
“So you’re choosing to spend time with the omegas today, huh?” Liam muttered, making Niall look at him in surprise.
“Jesus, what the fuck, man? What got into you?”
Louis closed his locker before turning back to Niall. “He’s pissed because I mentioned Zayn’s taken,” he explained, fighting back a smile.
It wasn’t that he didn’t feel sympathetic for Liam, but he had been shamelessly pining over Zayn for months, even before he got together with Gigi. Liam had never once claimed it was more than an attraction, so he thought it was amusing to tease him about it, especially when he reacted the way he did.
Niall’s face relaxed into a smile, a laugh escaping his lips. “Oh, that explains your pissy mood,” he declared, his gaze falling on the brown-eyed boy. “He is a pretty fit and nice lad, though, so I understand your obsession.”
“It’s not an obsession, Niall. That sounds creepy. I just find him very attractive, alright? And you’re saying he has a great personality, so I’m not way out of line here,” Liam objected, grabbing his laptop from his locker.
“Except that he’s taken,” Louis reminded him, earning a glare.
Niall chuckled. “Well, I don’t know him on a personal level, so don’t take my word for it. He seems nice, though, if you exclude the way he’s kissing Styles’ ass.”
Liam looked offended by Niall’s words, his brow furrowed. “He’s not kissing his ass. They’re friends.”
“Whatever you say,” Niall smirked.
“Whatever, I’m out of here. See you assholes later,” Liam huffed, closing his locker before walking away.
Louis and Niall exchanged a knowing look after watching him leave. “He’s been defending Harry and his friends this whole break. Thank you for coming to my rescue,” Louis said with humor, noticing that the hallway was getting empty.
Niall shrugged his shoulders, pursing his lips. “You know I don’t have anything against Styles. I feel quite flat on that matter, although sometimes I get what you mean. He’s… not like everyone else. I have yet to decide whether that’s a good or bad thing.”
Louis began walking to his lecture, Niall tagging along quickly. “It’s definitely a bad thing,” he muttered, pressing his lips together.
Niall’s lips twitched slightly. “I know you think so,” he replied. “But it’s quite fun to tease Liam about Zayn, so I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity.”
A chuckle escaped Louis’ lips. “It sure is.”
Louis and Liam had shared dorms since they began university a year ago, and they became great friends almost immediately. Liam wasn’t very hard to like. They shared opinions on many matters, although the pack leader and his friends were an exception. They hardly ever fought for real, though, and their banter was always forgotten at the end of the day.
There were three dormitories on campus: one for the alphas, one for the omegas and one for the betas. It was mainly for safety reasons, as trouble and drama could and probably would occur if they all shared dormitories. Still, it was pretty easy to visit the other dormitories if you wanted to. Someone just had to buzz you in.
Once Louis and Niall were standing outside Louis’ lecture hall, they departed and told each other they would meet later for lunch, as they didn’t major in the same subject.
When Louis entered the room, he noticed it wasn’t as full as he thought it would be, considering the empty hallways. Fortunately, that meant only a few people watched him as he walked up the stairs to an empty seat.
His eyes instantly caught sight of another friend of his, and he didn’t hesitate to sit down next to the dark-skinned omega. “Hey, Dess,” he smiled, placing his laptop and lecture book on the desk next to her.
“Hey, Lou. Sit down,” she smiled.
Destiny’s dark, curly hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head, looking pretty as always. They had been friends for almost as long as he and Liam. Even if he and Destiny didn’t share dorms, they were both majoring in English, which had made them friends after only a few weeks of university.
She was the kind of friend you wanted to have around all the time because she always made you smile no matter what. Even on days when Louis felt down, she managed to get him in a better mood. She was an energy-giver, to say the least.
When Louis started university, he quickly realized he was luckier here than in college and high school. He didn’t have many friends back then. Most omegas were female, and he was only one out of two male omegas at his previous school, which wasn’t very popular among the rest. Male omegas usually got a lot of attention from alphas because they were rare, and the females didn’t like that. Therefore, Louis’ only friend back then had been a beta named Zarah, but they unfortunately drifted when they finished college.
There weren’t many male omegas at the University of Doncaster either, but they were older now, and the females didn’t see Louis as much of a competition anymore, especially since he had made it quite clear he wasn’t interested in any of the alphas’ attention games. And if the alphas didn’t get any response, they eventually stayed away.
Harry was a different story, though. Since he was the pack leader, every omega subconsciously found it harder not to submit to him, and considering it was difficult not to do so in the first place, he usually didn’t even have to try. That was why Louis tried to stay as far away from him as possible and held his breath whenever he was around.
“Do you want to meet in the lounge room and watch a movie tonight? You can bring Liam too,” Destiny asked, absentmindedly drumming her fingers on her laptop keyboard.
Louis, now sitting next to Destiny, was trying to start up his laptop. Since he didn’t have much money, it wasn’t the best on the market, so it always took a few minutes to come to life.
“Sure,” Louis smiled. “Sounds great.”
Whenever they arranged to watch a movie or spend time in the lounge room of their dormitory, usually many people were there at the same time, and he assumed that would be the case tonight as well, as they couldn’t exactly book it.
Since Louis was too busy focusing on Destiny and his laptop that had just started up, he wasn’t prepared for the sudden wave of a familiar scent filling the room. It smelled like roses and musk, and it was so intense that he could feel his muscles tense, his mouth going dry as sex pheromones emitted from his body against his will.
His gaze snapped up, only to find Harry walking up the stairs, his hand running through his long curls reaching just below his shoulders. He was about to take the next step when he suddenly stopped, and Louis quickly understood that he must have felt how his body had reacted to his scent. Fuck.
Harry’s nostrils flared as his eyes found Louis’, his jaw clenching tightly. The sight gave Louis goosebumps, and he inhaled a deep breath through his mouth, too afraid of what would happen if he inhaled another breath through his nose.
Harry abruptly turned his back to Louis and sat down in a seat further down the stairs, probably to get as far away from him as possible.
Meanwhile, reality started to catch up on Louis, and he realized Harry wasn’t the only alpha who had picked up on his sex pheromones. Every alpha in the room was now staring at him, their eyes burning holes into his skin.
It made Louis sink down in his seat, and he prayed that no one would act on their instincts and come over to him. Luckily for him, there weren’t many alphas in the room, and most of them were mated.
“Louis, what’s going on?” Destiny asked where she was sitting, looking around the room in confusion. She had noticed that Louis had caught every alpha’s attention.
Clearing his throat, he pulled himself up in his seat again. “Nothing.”
She turned to look at the side of his face, her voice lower now. “Every alpha in the room was just looking at you, even Styles. Tell me what happened.”
He sunk his teeth into his bottom lip. He couldn’t tell her what effect the pack leader had on him. It was embarrassing, especially since Louis seemed to be even more affected by him and his scent than everyone else. “Don’t worry about it, Dess,” he mumbled, opening the internet on his laptop.
She sighed, understanding that she wouldn’t get any answer from him, and turned back in her seat. Meanwhile, Louis found himself glancing at the back of Harry’s head, thinking about how he had ignored him, even if he must have known that Louis reacted to his alpha in particular. It wasn’t the first time it happened, embarrassingly enough. It had happened a few times before, but Harry’s reaction was always the same.
Louis wasn’t complaining, though. If anything, he was thankful that Harry didn’t make a move to come near him. He just wondered what the reason was. If it was because he knew how Louis reacted when any other alpha approached him, if he didn’t like him, or if it was because of something else.
Regardless, he didn’t want to know what would happen if Harry decided to approach him when his omega let him down.