Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to us. They belong to BioWare and any other creators of the Mass Effect universe. We do this for free, fun entertainment and do not mean to offend anyone.
Rating/Warning: This fic is rated a strong MA+ This is an Omegaverse story. Content warnings for rough sex, biting, magic cocks, and just a teensy bit of bad language. However, there's nothing even slightly noncon about this. It's got a real, "Wow, this is stupid, but I really wanna do it anyway" vibe.
A/N: This is the sort of sequel to 'Omega's Choice', but you certainly don't need to read that one to understand what's going on in this one. We hope you enjoy.
Rae's A/N: It's heeeere! 'Cat and I have two more stories planned in this series, one for Shepard and Liara during the events of Mass Effect 2, and one more for Aria and Tevos.
Chapter One:
Councilor Tevos sighed, shifting on the examination table and staring impatiently at the door. Her title bought her a few perks, like last-minute appointments at the overcrowded Huerta Memorial, but it didn't make the doctors move any faster. She had to deal with the same inconveniences as everyone else, including the uncomfortable dressing gowns provided for patients. She pulled hers further shut and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ignore the cold. Without her dress, the strange chill seemed worse than usual.
Almost every day was a bad one thanks to the war, but the past week of her life had been particularly miserable. On top of dealing with an impending Reaper invasion, the matriarchs, and the possible end of the galaxy, her body had started to shut down. Her sleep was fevered and fitful even with sedatives, and she could barely keep down the blandest food. She was constantly exhausted, and her sore, stiff muscles trembled even while sitting at her desk. Normally, she would have attributed it to the stress of her job, but this felt different. When her symptoms hadn't improved, she had swallowed her pride and scheduled an appointment at the urging of her assistant.
She snapped out of her thoughts and sat up straight as the door opened. A slender human female with short hair and a form-fitting green uniform stepped inside, carrying a datapad in one hand. "Madam Councilor? My name is Doctor Chloe Michel, current Medic in Charge at Huerta Memorial. I'm so sorry Doctor Aishi couldn't meet with you today, but your message said it was urgent."
"Not that urgent, Doctor Michel," Tevos said, feeling a little guilty. On the way to the examination room, she had overheard an asari doctor telling an injured soldier that he would need his lower leg amputated. In comparison, her problem seemed trivial.
"I disagree." Doctor Michel set the datapad aside and approached the table, giving her a reassuring smile. "You're the Asari Councilor. If something prevents you from doing your job, we all suffer."
The words were meant to be comforting, but they only made Tevos feel worse. A knot formed in her chest, and her hands started to tremble again. "Well, thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice. I am experiencing some symptoms that are affecting my ability to work..."
Doctor Michel listened patiently while she explained, wearing the same polite, thoughtful look on her face. As the list grew longer, a furrow formed on her smooth brow. She activated her omnitool, keying in a few commands. "If you could stand for me, please?"
Obediently, Tevos stood, holding her gown together to keep it from slipping. She was grateful to be off the examination table, but her legs started to wobble, and she was forced to clutch the edge for balance. "Sorry," she said as Doctor Michel put a steadying hand on her elbow. "I've been doing that a lot lately."
"I see." The doctor held up her omnitool, and Tevos shuddered as an orange light scanned up and down her body. She couldn't feel anything, but it still left her vaguely uncomfortable. The wrinkle in Doctor Michel's forehead returned, and the corners of her lips turned down in a small frown. "Are you currently taking any medications, Councilor?"
"Several," Tevos sighed. "Stims in the mornings, sedatives to sleep, some anti-anxiety medications, and hormone suppressants."
"Hormone suppressants?" Doctor Michel turned back around to pick up the datapad she had set aside. "Ah. You're an omega."
Tevos wasn't surprised that the doctor had missed it. Most people weren't aware of her status, especially since she took the maximum dosage of her meds and didn't carry herself in a particularly submissive way. Almost everyone pegged her as a beta, or even an alpha if they couldn't smell her, until she gave them reason to believe otherwise. "Yes. But that doesn't have anything to do with my symptoms, does it?" she asked, a little defensively.
Doctor Michel continued scanning the data pad. "It very well might. When was your last heat?"
Tevos thought back, trying to remember. "I'm not sure. Ten years ago? Maybe more?"
"A whole decade?" Doctor Michel said, her voice taking on an edge of alarm. The doctor's eyes flicked to her naked throat, and Tevos knew she was checking for a mating mark. There was none to be seen, and she felt a twinge of sadness. While her professional career had blossomed, her romantic life had always been something of a mess, veering between dysfunctional and nonexistent. It was a private source of embarrassment, although she would never dream of admitting it.
"So, you've been taking your suppressants all this time?"
She lowered her eyes to her feet. "I keep meaning to stop and give my body a break, but there's never a good opportunity. I can't afford to miss work, and the side effects are so... inconvenient."
"Your body's natural processes aren't side effects, Madam Councilor," Doctor Michel chided. "And I'm afraid the real side effects of continuing to take your suppressants non-stop have finally caught up with you." She turned around to show Tevos the glowing screen that hovered above her wrist. "Your hormone levels are very unstable, and the amount of medication my scan picked up in your system is on the verge of being unsafe. I would advise you to stop taking everything but your anti-anxiety meds immediately and give yourself time to recuperate."
Tevos shook her head. "That won't be possible, doctor. In case you've missed it, we're in the middle of a war. I don't have time to be distracted by my cycle right now." She didn't even want to think about how stressed she would be if she had to deal with her heat in addition to everything else on her plate. Continuing to take the hormone suppressants couldn't be as bad as what would happen if she went off them. She could handle the tiredness for a while longer, at least until the war turned in their favor.
She moved to put her clothes back on, but instead of backing off like she expected, Doctor Michel stood her ground. "I don't think you understand," she said, her voice controlled, but still tense with urgency. "If you don't stop taking your hormone suppressants, it's very likely that you will wind up a permanent resident of this hospital. You've already missed at least twenty cycles by your own calculations, and organ failure is a common side effect of overdoses on this family of drugs. With the war on, we have few resources to spare. So, please, stop taking the suppressants. I'm sure a few days off now would be better than having to permanently vacate your post."
Still not ready to admit defeat, Tevos turned toward her neatly folded pile of clothes. "I'll think about it," she said, bristling at the thought of agreeing to anything without having the time to come to her own conclusion. Even in this day and age, some alphas still expected omegas to be passive and defer to their 'superiority'. She had fought against that kind of bigotry her entire life. A beta had to work twice as hard as an alpha to get what they wanted, so she'd needed to work four times as hard to get to where she was today, in a position that many thought only an alpha had the strength to hold.
Luckily, Tevos was able to see past her own defensiveness before Doctor Michel left the room. Her own discomfort didn't matter, but she couldn't allow herself to become incapacitated. There wasn't nearly enough time to familiarize someone else with her job while she was confined to the hospital, and she doubted the Reapers would be considerate enough to wait for her to recover. "How long until the drugs start wearing off?" she asked, softening her voice. She needed to work for as long as she could before she lost days to her heat. If she scheduled things properly, it would be a relatively seamless transition… assuming the Galaxy wasn't destroyed by then.
"They'll probably take a week to work out of your system," Doctor Michel said. "But with the amount you're on, it might take longer to flush it all."
"Thank you, doctor," Tevos said, her voice calm as her mind started to work on the problem at hand.
After her appointment, Tevos went over her calendar with Neota, moving things around so she could work from home the following week. Unfortunately, that meant filling her time with face to face meetings. The busy schedule left her short-tempered, but it was an improvement on constant exhaustion. She worked hard during the next several days, gritting her teeth into a polite smile as an endless line of idiots paraded through her office.
But as hard as she tried, there was one person she couldn't manage to switch. Tevos had done her best to move up Aria T'Loak's appointment, but without success. The self-proclaimed Queen of Omega was irritating at the best of times, and so smug that Tevos wanted to smack the arrogant smirk off her face on the rare occasions they met in person. Aria had refused the offer of a different time slot, and her message had bordered on condescending.
Tevos hadn't been looking forward to her visit in the first place, but the fact that it was going to happen right before her heat made her even more anxious. Aria was striking to look at despite her obnoxious personality, and her aura was incredibly powerful. It was something Tevos didn't let herself dwell on while she was taking her suppressants, but it concerned her this time. Still, Doctor Michel had said the drugs would still be in her system, so she'd relented when Aria refused to reschedule.
That was how she ended up fiddling with the thermostat in her office a day before she was due to leave, wasting time in a futile effort to get comfortable. Of course, Aria was already fifteen minutes late. Tevos had made sure to send her the wrong time by ten minutes to avoid wasting her own, but apparently, Aria was determined to be even more annoying than usual. She sighed, pinching her forehead when she saw that the temperature wouldn't go any lower. So far, she hadn't experienced any other symptoms related to her heat, but the hot flashes were unpleasant enough.
"Speaking of unpleasant," she muttered to herself as her Omnitool buzzed.
She answered the call and Neota's familiar face blinked onto the screen. Her assistant's cheeks had more color than usual, and when she spoke, she seemed almost breathless. "Madam Councilor? Aria T'Loak is here to see you."
Tevos sighed. Although she was eager to get the meeting over with so she could go home and submerge herself in a cold bath, part of her was afraid. She hated to admit it, but she found the dominant way Aria carried herself appealing on a primal level. "Send her in," she said, returning to her desk. There was no way she would stand on ceremony for Aria, especially since she seemed so determined to cause inconvenience.
"Of course, Councilor. I'll tell her you're ready for her."
After what felt like a century instead of a second, the door opened. Tevos fought to keep her expression blank as Aria strode into her office, all swagger and no apologies, but it was a difficult feat. Her tight leather pants highlighted her long legs, and the straps of her corset put her breasts on prominent display. Tevos suddenly realized she was holding her breath and tried to inhale without being conspicuous. That proved to be a mistake. Aria's scent filled her nose, all leather and salt and sex, and the power behind it left her dizzy.
"Tevos? Come in, Tevos. Citadel Control to Destiny Ascension."
Tevos blinked, and Aria snapped back into focus before her. Her gloved hands were braced on the far edge of the desk, and she was leaning uncomfortably close. Against her will, Tevos's eyes dragged down to Aria's cleavage, nestled beneath the popped red collar of her jacket. When she finally managed to look up again, an insufferable smirk had already tilted Aria's full lips.
"Ah, I see we've made contact. Do you want to tell me why you're staring at me like you haven't eaten in days?"
"Perhaps it's because I would have been home for dinner already if you hadn't insisted on being late," Tevos snapped. She pushed her chair back, hoping a few more inches of distance would help break the spell. She loathed how much she loved the way Aria looked in that jacket. "And it's Councilor Tevos. Surely even you know how to address someone politely."
Aria pushed off the desk, folding her arms over her chest. The new pose didn't make her look any less appealing, and the angle of her hips sent Tevos's heartbeat pounding straight down between her legs. "I know how to be polite," Aria drawled, still wearing the same pouting smile. "But I'll admit that I rarely see the point. When I see something I want, it's usually faster to take it instead of asking nicely."
Tevos shook herself. Despite what Doctor Michel had said, this had to be her hormones talking. Normally, she could ignore Aria's charms - if only just. "Then why don't you tell me what you want so we can both go about our business? I know you enjoy wasting my time, but surely you don't want to waste any more of your own."
"Time spent looking at you is never a waste, Councilor." The use of her title wasn't mocking, but Aria wrapped it in a purr, and Tevos had to suppress a shudder. "I did come here for a reason, though." Aria pulled out a datapad and placed it on top of her desk. "I need you to override security for me. The names on this list are Eclipse mercenaries. C-Sec won't let them onto the Citadel, and Commander Shepard needs them for her army."
Tevos shook her head in disbelief. Even for Aria, that was a tall request. "If you think I'm letting a pack of criminals onto the Citadel just because you asked, you've lost touch with reality. Handling immigration processing for you was one thing. A personal favor you never thanked me properly for, I might add…"
Aria had the decency to look affronted. "Hey, I did say thank you-"
"…But these people are dangerous," Tevos finished, completely ignoring her interruption.
Aria's forehead tattoo lifted, but she seemed amused instead of upset. It was almost as if she had expected to be denied. "Are you saying I'm not dangerous?" she asked, leaning further over the desk.
Tevos swallowed. Her tongue felt thick against the roof of her mouth, and the clawing ache in her abdomen was growing stronger by the moment. Every time she inhaled, her head spun and her heart thudded hard against the cage of her ribs. Aria was definitely dangerous, especially to her. She needed to end this quickly, before her heat actually started and the frayed nerves of her self-control wore any thinner.
"Oh, you're dangerous all right," she said, shifting back in her chair. She steepled her fingers in front of her face, trying to inconspicuously close her nasal passages so that she wouldn't have to smell Aria's enticingly dominant scent. "A danger to the patience of anyone you come into contact with. A danger to law abiding citizens who live perfectly uneventful lives until you drive them into a murderous rage just by being you."
There was a pause as Tevos mentally relived one of her favorite fantasies: wrapping her hands around Aria's neck and permanently wiping that smirk off her arrogant face. Unfortunately, that private moment took a totally unexpected turn when she found her fantasy self sitting astride Aria's powerful thighs and kissing the Queen of Omega instead. A strangled moan caught in her throat, and she quickly cleared it to cover up her mental lapse, pointedly ignoring the rush of heat and wetness she felt between her thighs.
"The answer is no," she continued in her best official voice. "If Shepard needs the mercenaries, she can find a way to facilitate their access to the Citadel without my help - or yours."
Aria released a very unprofessional snort, slouching into the chair in front of the desk as if she owned it. "Shepard? Not likely. T'Soni's in heat again, and she's been busy. You'd think the Protheans would have been considerate enough to think to postpone an omega's heat in such dangerous times." Aria paused for a minute as she seemed to consider something. "Or maybe this is a way of ensuring that some species survive. More babies means a better chance that some will live through it."
Already on edge from everything that had happened since Doctor Michel had informed her that she had to stop taking her hormone suppressants, Tevos finally snapped a little, unable to stand the way that Aria was speculating on the nature of omegas. Aria had no idea, couldn't possible understand, the trials that an omega went through. She stood up so fast that her chair loudly careened backwards and she braced her hands on her desk, looking daggers into Aria's relaxed form. "This meeting is over. You have your answer, and I don't have time for idle chit chat."