OMEGA POV
Leila sat on her bed with a little red book in her lap. Her delicate rosy lips tried to spell out difficult words from time to time that made no sense to her. She moved her finger slowly on the last page of the book that she challenged herself to finish.
From time to time she would stop to gather her thoughts and chain the new information to the already long story, but now she saw that there were no pages left. Without saying a single world, she closed the book and looked at the cover.
It had a golden sword drawn on the red cover and a title that spelled "Fairy Tales and Legends". It wasn't a long book nor complicated. She read many stories about massive dragons and charming princes that had to save their loved ones.
A wave of pride washed over her as she realized that she finished her first book. The brunette held the book tightly at her chest. She had to share her happiness with someone. Her big brown eyes looked around her room for Andrew. She had to tell him.
Her room was spacious as it was bright. There were many windows and even a balcony that let the gentle rays of sunshine dance on the light pink walls.
Leila found her butler, Andrew. He had his back turned at her while rummaging in one of her four big closets.
"Where the hell is it?" He asked while he threw his hands in the air frustrated.
The Omega sneaked behind her butler, which was a Beta, and waited with a huge smile on her face, while she hid the book behind.
Andrew continued to search angrily. The Omega peaked curiously to see what was causing his distress, and observed he looked in her jackets closet.
"I want the black coat with fur sleeves, not the one that has a bow in the middle…" He made grimaces as he imitated her Alpha and dramatically checked the sleeves of three black coats.
The young man sighed and passed his hand through his blond short hair. Leila straightened her back excited. She could tell he would soon turn. She only reached until Andrew's chin, but this was to be expected due to her omegan dynamic.
He seemed to have given up for the moment on his search expedition for the black coat. He smoothed his uniform which consisted of a white shirt and black trousers. This was his casual one. If guests were coming over or he had to accompany Leila outside, he would also wear a blazer and a tie.
"That asshole will kill me. Maybe it is in another damn house. Last winter weren't we in Vienna?" He mumbled as he took out his smartphone from his pocket and turned.
He was shocked to see the Omega so close. The butler let out a cry while he dropped his phone.
"You little witch, want to give me a heart attack? Told you so many times to stop sneaking behind me!"
Leila apologized like the good Omega she was and smiled innocently.
"So? What do you want?" Andrew asked while he eyed her suspiciously.
The brunette revealed the book. It was time to return it to its master.
"I finished reading the book." The Omega announced proudly.
Andrew's eyes softened and he smiled with pride, after all, he was the one that taught her to read.
Leila never imagined she would ever learn to read. When she lived in the Training Facility, her time was spent in etiquette classes and punishments. There was never a book present and she lived there her whole live.
She concluded that a perfect Omega doesn't need to know how to read. A perfect Omega is obedient and submissive.
When she was bought at sixteen and started living with her own Alpha, she had been too overwhelmed by the change. At first glance Alpha seemed like a cold person. He was tall and broad chested, had black short hair and icy blue eyes.
In the beginning she was afraid to even be in his presence. Alphas had a domineering aura that made Omegas uneasy. When they would meet his acquaintances, they would always tell her how lucky she was that he made her his Omega. They would joke that someone would kill for a rich and handsome Alpha like him.
Leila didn't quite get at first why money was important, having grown up in the Training Facility where every Omega had exactly the same things and clothes. She also didn't care about her Alpha's appearance, lovely as it might be, she was more concerned about whispers of his menacing temper.
It was hard to adapt to the new household as Alpha introduced new rules that she wasn't brought up with. But under his strict demeanor and icy eyes, sometimes she would see a kind man. When they were alone, he was sweet and patient, but in public he sometimes threw glances so biting and venomous that it scared her.
The Omega always wondered if he would look in the same way to her if she made a big mistake. It would have been crushing.
As time passed she made lots and lots of mistakes, but he always looked with kind eyes at her.
Once she started to get used to her new house and life, Leila realized how tortured she was at the Training Facility. In Alpha's house she had her own room with a soft bed, delicious food that was available to her whenever she wanted, and hot water that would sooth her as she took a bath.
What she couldn't believe at first was that all these were not privileges, but rights that could not be revoked while she was punished. She felt like in Heaven and wished she could banish all her dark memories of the past.
The Omega also discovered the pleasure of listening music, watching TV and playing games. Sometimes Alpha even let her tinker with his phone. Her favorite activity was taking pictures with it. After a while he would look through the dozens of new picture and comment if he liked a particular one.
Alpha sure loved phones. He had not one, not two but three phones. Two for work and one for himself. She never understood how he managed to multitask so much. She sometimes found it hard to stay concentrated on the same thing for more than ten minutes if it was especially boring, like her etiquette classes, but her mate was a smart and busy Alpha so he had his ways.
After moving to his house, she discovered the mysterious books, but soon realized they were not meant for her. Alpha had a personal study, but she wasn't allowed there alone. When she was inside with him and managed to reach for a book and flick through it, Alpha would chuckle and take the book back to its place. He would often scold her gently that books were not toys for Omegas.
After a while books lost their novelty and she simply forgot them. After all they were full of indecipherable small symbols.
When Andrew joined the household one year later, he was the one that brought back the interest on books.
Leila already had five butlers already, after all it was the norm that an Omega would be taken care by one, in a rich household like her Alpha's. But she didn't like them.
In a traditional household, Betas were the ones maintaining it because they were not affected by the pheromones of the other dynamics. For this reason, Leila always considered that Beta were too hard to understand.
When she felt sad, Alpha could smell her even without looking at her to see her distress, but with Betas it was different. You had to use "words". So tiring and confusing. Leila had to explain everything and it was hard. It was irritating because she was brought up knowing that an Omega must be seen but not heard.
This rule got carried over to her new home too, more or less. While she could talk to her Alpha and ask him questions, when he would get tired of her, it was time for her to be only seen. But since she had to live most of her time with a Beta, she had to speak. And worst of all she started to love talking, but was not allowed enough.
It was so frustrating, if it weren't for those annoying Betas she wouldn't have found out the pleasure of talking. Sometimes with Alpha they didn't have to use any words. They would communicate using touches and pheromones.
While she knew Alpha had taken a liking to her, unfortunately he wasn't around a lot. Most of the times he was speaking to his phones, dressed in a sharp suit, coming and going many times a day. This is why they needed a Beta to look after her.
The problem was that she didn't like the Betas he chose. They were old, boring, mean and never smiled. So Leila always complained to Alpha. He would nod, fire them and look for someone new. She was just disappointed that Alpha simply didn't understand how she wanted her Beta butler to be.
The omega always tried to tell him that the Beta that looks after her must be loving, easy to read and know lots of interesting things. Alpha would start to laugh and assure her that those are the "qualifications" he would look for in their CVs, or whatever complicated words he told her while trying to keep a somewhat straight face.
But everything changed one day when Alpha introduced Andrew. He was younger than the rest, only 25 years old. Alpha called him a "special case" and informed her that he was in a "probation period". Leila didn't understand what was wrong, he was a Beta and a butler, seemed good enough for her.
But even she could sense the tension coming from the interactions between the two men. As he started looking after her she could only gather that he simply disliked her Alpha, and couldn't get further answers from neither of them.
Another interesting discovery was that even though Andrew was a Beta, he didn't really knew the rules of a traditional household.
Everyone said it was because he wasn't born in their country, but had lived all his life somewhere in Europe. Leila found if funny that she wasn't the only one that had to be scolded for breaking the rules.
The Omega grew easily attached to her new butler. She loved spending time with him because she was actually talkative and full of energy. Her other Betas used to tell her, when she was bored, to simply review what she learnt in the etiquette classes, which continued even after moving to her new home.
But with Andrew it was fun. He had lots of ideas of things to do when boredom struck. Most of the times he would tell her interesting stories of his life. Leila found it very fascinating. The life of a Beta had nothing in common with life of an Omega.
But one day, he run out of stories to tell. He had a hard look on his face while trying to think of something but in the end shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
"Why don't we go get a book? I think I told you every stupid shit me and my friends used to do and get in trouble. You like legends? I love legends, especially ones with dragons."
And he would ramble under his breath trying to remember good books that had dragons in them.
But the Beta stopped suddenly and looked into the brunette's eyes.
"You don't know how to read, do you? These brutes never let you learn."
The Omega looked confused while Andrew took out his smartphone and started typing something on it. He showed her a picture of a book that had a menacing black dragon.
"I will bring you this book tomorrow. It has dragons, knights, witches, pretty cool huh? I will read for you at bed time. What can't be more awesome than dreaming of dragons?" He smirked proudly of his plan.
Leila asked next if reading was fun. The blond nodded and started describing how he used to stay up late under his covers with a flashlight and read from "comic books".
The Omega didn't know what comic books were but from his excited voice she could imagine they were something fun.
She looked into his eyes and told him that she wants to read too.
"But they don't….You know what, screw them! I will show them what you are capable of!" He said with fire in his eyes while Leila nodded confused.
And the rest was history. Every night when they had time Andrew taught her letters and words. In the beginning it was so hard. Leila really believed it was too complicated for her simple Omega mind but Andrew would call nonsense of that and make her practice again and again.
As time passed Leila improved. Yes, it was hard, but if she took it slow and read the sentences carefully, she could understand them. Those moments brought lots of joy to her. It was exciting to discover what new adventures brought a new page in her book.
Sometimes she would read when she was bored, other times when she was scared. It happened often that nightmares from her former life would not let her sleep well. Some were much worse than others.
The cruel nightmares would follow her all the way until her Alpha's room, and he was the only one who could scare them away. But from his grumpy voice she knew that she couldn't wake him up for every one of them.
So Leila tried to be braver and confront some of the monsters with her flashlight and trusty book. Just like Andrew told her he used to do, she hid under the covers and read until her dreams were full of dragons and witches.
"I am so proud of you. " Andrew told her softly while patting her inky hair.
While Leila tried to gather her toughts and respond, the door to her room opened and Alpha made his entrance. He was still wearing his gray winter coat meaning he just arrived from work.
Both Leila and Andrew bowed, the Omega deeper than the Beta, as it was custom.
"I called you, Andrew. I wonder why you keep your phone with you anyway if you never plan to use it." Alpha snapped a little annoyed but took a deep breath to calm himself when he saw that his Omega was also present.
The butler looked at his phone and commented how early he returned. Alpha didn't say much, just mumbling that a meeting was cancelled and his plans changed.
They started speaking in a language that Leila couldn't understand. They often did and she felt so left out. The life of an Omega revolved around listening. Why did they need to bare her even from that?
"What plans do you have for today?" Leila asked hopeful eyeing the clock on the wall.
It was only two in the afternoon.
After a pause, Alpha turned to the little Omega that was ignored. He made a hand sign to her butler that put an end to whatever conversation they were having.
"If I am not called again, I plan to stay home tonight."
Leila nodded excited and was already dreaming of the evening with Alpha. Despite the signs earlier, he seemed to be in a good mood when he spoke to her. Seemed like she would have all his attention tonight.
When the two men changed to subject to the mysterious missing coat of hers, this time in the language that she could understand, Leila remembered suddenly the book.
She mused if to tell or not. Alpha never saw her reading before and didn't seem too keen to share his books with her. Maybe because they were his favorite books? She didn't let anyone touch her favorite plushies too.
Suddenly Leila felt such a desperate need to tell him. He praised her so rarely and she was sure that if he was impressed, tonight would be even better.
Having made up her mind, she tried to get the attention of her Alpha. She took his big hand in hers and squeezed gently.
"What is it, little one? You seem awfully needy today. "
Before Leila had the chance to say her accomplishment, he saw the book in her hand. He looked at it curiously and took it from her delicate hand.
"I finished it, Alpha. I read every page." Announced Leila with a proud smile while Alpha looked at her even more confused.
"You? You mean Andrew read it to you?"
Leila shook her head in a 'no' and she touched lightly with her finger the title of the book. She read it loudly: "Fairy tales and legends".
But when she looked up, Alpha didn't seem happy. He exchanged shocked glances to Andrew, who remained silent in the whole ordeal and looked at the floor. The Omega couldn't fathom why her Alpha was not impressed.
"Tell me, darling, who taught you to read so well?" Alpha asked with a sweet tone and calm eyes.
"Andrew taught me." Leila responded innocently. "He is such a good teacher. Always teaches me wonderful things."
"Oh, how lucky I am. And when I think I pay tutor after tutor to make you a proper mate!"
The Omega was not prepared for the sharp tone and lowered her eyes sadly. It seems she disappointed her Alpha again.
The tension in the air grew as he could sense her distress. In the end Alpha just sighed heavily.
"Tell the cook to bring my lunch to my room in an hour. " Alpha said in his normal calm tone after he composed himself and he grabbed Leila's hand to leave.
Just before exiting the door followed by his anxious Omega, he turned his cold gaze to Andrew.
"I will see you in my study at seven".
"Yes sir."