"How does it feel, kid?"

Ben glanced across the picnic table, watching his father flip a steak on the grill. With the nice, sunny weather, his mother had insisted on cooking out. Usually, fourteen-year-old Ben would have been delighted by the prospect of steak, and potato salad, and his mother's famous apple pie. He would have invited Rey over, too. They'd play something silly in the backyard, like catch, or cornhole.

But Ben was advised that dinner that particular evening was just for family. He was young, but not stupid.

His parents clearly thought he needed time to adjust to his new designation before seeing his best friend again.

He wondered if they were right.

"How does what feel?" Ben asked, rather petulantly, as he husked an ear of corn.

Han sighed and glanced over his shoulder, giving his son a look. "You're a man now. You've presented and everything. My little Alpha."

Ben grumbled and looked away, his cheeks tinging pink. Given his family history, his height, and his aggressive tendencies, Ben presenting as an Alpha was a shock to no one. Most teenagers presented slightly later in adolescence, but Ben always had to be the exception.

It was that stupid, cursed, Skywalker blood that ran through his veins.

"It's fine." He finally explained, his voice low, barely audible over the classic rock his dad had playing from his tiny, tabletop stereo, "I'm just glad the rut is over."

Han chuckled and tossed another steak onto the grill, humming in agreement. "You and me both, kid. Your mother is already nagging me to fix your closet shelves. And the four holes in the wall."

He didn't think it was possible, but Ben managed to blush harder. "Sorry."

His father waved his hand, his grin bright. "Eh, it happens to all of us. I broke a mirror during my first rut—all that bad luck is probably how I ended up with your mother!"

From the open patio door, his mother's irritated face peeked out. "Oh, shut it, Han! I'm the best thing that ever happened to you and you damn well know it."

He smirked and blew his wife a kiss. "Ah, you know it Princess. Now hurry up—these babies will be done in 10!"

Ben watched as his mother disappeared back into the house and the goofy smile his father wore. He couldn't help but think about the Alpha/Omega love stories he had grown up hearing about. It was in their nature—their blood—to mate with someone of the opposite designation.

It was in his biology to find an Omega.

"Dad?" He began again, his voice surprisingly soft. Only when Han turned away from the grill to look at him did he continue. "Do Alphas have to be with Omegas?"

His father closed the grill and leaned against the brick exterior of their home, watching Ben closely. "Well, yes and no. You never need to do anything. Not everyone gets married," He explained, taking a moment to rub at his face, "Look at your Uncle Luke. He never settled down and found an Alpha."

Ben pursed his lips, thinking of his Uncle Luke. They had a rocky relationship at best.

"But," His father continued, thinking over his words, "It would be hard for an Alpha to fully commit to a Beta or another Alpha. It's not in their nature. There are stories of Alphas dying of loneliness, from never having found their mates, but we tend to think of those as old wise tales." He chuckled and shook his head, "No Omega for an Alpha means no mating bites. And without your mate, you're never really complete."

Ben glanced at the raw corn sitting in front of him, his stomach filled with butterflies. He was scared to ask his next question.

Scared of what his father's answer would be.

"But…" Ben cleared his throat, at a loss for words, "What if an Alpha falls in love with another Alpha or a Beta? Then what?"

Han sighed and shook his head. "Look, kid, you do hear stories of couples like that trying to make it work. But it never does. An Alpha/Alpha couple will spend their entire life battling for dominance. An Alpha/Beta couple will never understand each other—Betas can't take knots, or smell, or bond."

Ben clenched his fists. "But what if they're best friends? What if they know each other better than they know themselves?"

Han stared at his son for a few moments. When he finally put two and two together, his features softened. He was taking pity on him, or at least that's what Ben would swear when he thought back to that late afternoon.

"You kids are young, Ben," Han explained, his voice softer, more compassionate than usual, "Rey has plenty of time to present as an Omega."

Ben swallowed and looked away. "And if she doesn't?"

"Then she isn't the girl for you."

Usually, Ben liked honesty. He wasn't a fan of sugarcoating the facts.

But hearing his father's harsh words made him sick.

"It's biology, Ben," Han continued, carefully pulling the steaks off the grill, "You can run and hide from it all you want, but in the end, it wins."

-x-x-x-

It only took Ben nearly twelve years to believe his father.

He glanced at the sleeping Omega in his arms, his heart full. Unable to help himself, he inhaled the air around him, nearly becoming lightheaded from the delicious mix of scents. He recognized his own dark, heady scent. But with the essence of Omega, so clean, and rich, and sweet, he thought he could finally die happy. Their scents together were unlike anything he had ever encountered.

It was like finding nirvana.

Ben took another moment to let his eyes linger on every exposed inch of her delicious body. Rey's golden skin was peppered with bites and bruises from his mouth and his fingers. Despite the coloring, she had never looked so beautiful.

His eyes dipped to her unmarked mating gland, the engorged pink skin taunting his self-control. There was nothing he wanted more in his life than digging his teeth into her.

He wanted her. All of her.

After the experience they shared, it was easy to accept what he probably always knew.

Ben loved her. He loved everything about her. He loved Beta Rey, and he especially loved Omega Rey.

There was no way to could return to their innocent friendship. Not after what they had just shared. It would be cruel. Mean.

It would go against their biology.

Ben pressed a soft kiss to her mating gland and shut his eyes.

He had never been more confident about anything in his life.

Finally, Rey would be his.

-x-x-x-

Even after something as strenuous as her heat, food never failed to wake Rey up.

The soft sizzle of bacon, along with the smell of frying potatoes wafted into the bedroom, strong enough to stir Rey from her sleep. When she finally opened her eyes, the memories of the past few days slowly drifted into her consciousness.

She remembered a practically feral Alpha, nipping and biting at every inch of her body. She remembered being fucked on her back, on her stomach, on her side, and in every humanly possible position, he fucked her until she saw stars and accepted his knot. She remembered his desperate words of praise, the chorus of how good she was, how tight she was, how perfect she was.

As she slowly came awake, even the smell of bacon couldn't distract her from the stench of the bedroom. It reeked of Alpha and Omega. Of heat and rut sex.

It was unlike anything she had ever smelled before.

Rey took a moment to roll into Ben's abandoned side of the bed, burying her face in his pillow. Words would never be able to describe his scent. It was simply too perfect.

"You're awake."

Ben's voice jolted her out of her exploration of his side of the bed. She sat up and swallowed.

"Yeah, I…I just woke up," She whispered, an unfamiliar emotion clawing at her chest, "I was surprised you weren't in bed."

He smiled softly. "I wanted to stay in bed. Watching you wake up would have been amazing," He chuckled and shook his head, "But then I thought about you not having had real food in days, and I knew making you breakfast would be a smarter use of time."

As if on cue, Rey's stomach growled. Quite audibly, too.

She blushed. "Right."

Ben grinned and just watched her, his eyes light. "You look beautiful, Omega."

Rey watched, eyes wide, as Ben appeared before her. She was practically in a trance as he leaned over, pressing a kiss to her lips. While the high lingered, he disappeared back into the kitchen, the sound of the coffee maker filtering in through the open door.

There was something about the potent mixture of his scent, and fresh coffee, and his soft voice, and his perfect praises that just wrecked her. She stumbled off the bed and ran to the bathroom, locking the door. She quickly turned the shower water on and lowered herself to the tile, uncaring of the cold water hitting her bruised skin.

Only when the rapidly warming water soaked her hair and pooled around her body did she let herself break down.

She wasn't sure why she was crying. She didn't know if that was a normal Omega reaction when a heat ended, or a side effect of being with an Alpha. She had theories, of course.

Like the way Ben smelled. The way he smiled at her. How he made her breakfast, and called her beautiful, and was currently in the kitchen, probably making her coffee with too much sugar in her favorite Scooby-Doo mug.

Ben was a textbook definition of a perfect Alpha.

But Rey? She was a pathetic excuse for an Omega. She presented late, still couldn't figure out the difference between anger and sadness in scent, and almost got herself reported to Designation Services multiple times.

What the hell could she offer him?

He needed an Omega who would nurture his Alpha. She'd cook for him, clean for him, build him beautiful nests that would fit as many pups as his heart would desire. He needed an Omega that would comb his hair and coo into his chest about how big and strong he was, how good he was, how perfect he was.

She couldn't do that. She was a mess. Forever a mess. The silly girl who no dad and the drug addict mother. The lazy girl who only did her laundry once every two months. The pathetic girl who could barely make boxed macaroni and cheese, let alone fry an egg.

The worthless girl that would never, ever, be good enough for an Alpha like Ben.

Rey sat in the shower until her skin pruned, hot tears dripping down her cheeks.

Ben was her best friend and he deserved the world. A hell of a lot more than her, the sad Omega who was so stunted she presented nearly a decade late.

She didn't know how their friendship would work—how she'd survive seeing him with another Omega one day—but she'd figure it out. She had spent nearly twelve years accepting that a shared future simply wasn't in their cards.

Biology couldn't change that because biology couldn't change her. She was still scrappy Rey, never good enough for Ben.

When she finally climbed out of the shower and made her way to the kitchen, it was like walking to the gallows.

-x-x-x-

Nothing pleased Ben more than watching Rey eat. He supposed it was tied at least indirectly to those Alpha desires to take care of the people you love, but ultimately, he knew it was just because she was such a reactive eater. If she loved something, she moaned, her cheeks usually turning up in a big grin. Sometimes, she'd store food up there like an adorable chipmunk, preferring to swallow her food in massive mouthfuls.

If she didn't like something, she'd still eat it, but only after coating it in ketchup or tabasco sauce or whatever condiment was lying around to disguise flavor. Usually, those mouthfuls were filled with faces that only YouTube videos of toddlers eating lemons could compare to.

Overall, she was always reacting when she ate, whether good or bad.

But today was different.

He made everything to her liking. Extra crispy bacon, fried potatoes with extra cold ketchup, cheesy scrambled eggs, and fresh coffee filled the table in front of them. Nothing colorful—if food had a pretty color, it probably didn't taste good.

At least to Rey.

She ate slowly, her eyes locked on the plate in front of her. She hadn't spoken a word since her shower. Ben initially wondered if she was just tired from her heat, or even concerned if breakfast would be awkward for them.

But awkward Rey laughed. Tired Rey still enjoyed her food.

This was a different Rey.

"I know things might be a bit weird right now," Ben began, careful with his words, "But I think—"

She swiftly cut him off. "Thank you."

Ben set his fork down, his eyes curious. "For breakfast? You're welcome. I wanted you to regain your strength."

Rey shook her head, her eyes still locked on her plate. "No. For helping me through my heat."

Ben pursed his lips. He didn't think he helped her. He simply thought the two of them had finally just…

Accepted their biology.

"Uh, well, you're welcome, I suppose. But I don't look at it that way. You were going through your heat; I went into rut. We just…we did what was natural."

Rey frowned and finally glanced up at him, her hazel eyes sad. "Exactly. We did what was natural. Precisely what I was afraid of, Ben. I didn't want us to become slaves to our biology."

Ben cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, struggling to figure out what to say next. He knew her fears, but he didn't feel they were justified. Not given the gravity of his feelings for her.

"We're not slaves, Rey," He began slowly, his eyes locked on hers, "We made a choice. One that I was quite happy with."

She just shook her head. In retrospect, Ben should have known her inability to meet his eyes was a bad sign.

"Well I'm not, Ben, okay? I'm a mess. I'm a fucking awful Omega and it's not fair for you to get stuck looking after me. There are so many worthy Omegas out there like Jess and Kaydel and Paige and every single one of them would be better suited to being with you and helping you through a rut." She swallowed and hugged herself, her eyes filling with tears, "I don't deserve you. I don't deserve any of this. You've always taken care of me, even before this, because I'm practically a fucking child. I can barely get to work on time, let alone feed and clothe myself."

He just stared at her, barely comprehending her words. Was she playing a cruel joke? How could she think she was an awful Omega?

She was fucking perfect by every definition of the word. She was kind and sweet and beautiful. She smelled like sugar and vanilla and the sun after a rainy day. She holds him when he's angry and makes him laugh when he's sad.

She's the first thing on his mind when he wakes up, and the last thing on his mind when he goes to sleep.

Rey was a perfect Omega by default simply because she was a perfect person, long before she ever presented.

"That's not true," He finally forced out, his voice desperate, "Rey, you're learning your role in all this, but that doesn't change how perfect—"

She shook her head quickly, abruptly cutting him off. "It could take me years to learn all this. Most girls get ten or more years to figure out attraction and submission and what it means to be an Omega before they ever consider getting married or having kids. But me? If I wait ten years, I'll be bloody lucky if I can even get pregnant!"

Ben stood up; his eyes angry. He refused to accept that she really believed this.

It broke his fucking heart.

"You don't need to learn anything, dammit! It comes naturally when you're with someone you love and care about. Rey, you're already everything I could want or need. That makes you perfect."

Rey turned away, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You deserve an Omega who knows what to do when you go into rut, Ben. You deserve an Omega who can tell when you're happy or sad or horny just from your scent. You deserve an Omega who's ready to take your mating bite and have your pups. I can't do that. I'm not that."

Ben stared at her, his anger gone, replaced with something much worse. Something that tasted like heartbreak.

She smelled the same, but he just knew he couldn't touch her. He couldn't comfort her like he wanted to.

No, he needed to.

"So, I just get no say in this?" He whispered, his eyes locked on her wet cheeks, "It doesn't matter if I think you're all I've ever needed?"

When she didn't respond, he knew he had his answer. Unable to take the desperate sadness of her scent any longer, he grabbed his keys and disappeared out of the apartment.

As he slammed the door shut, he knew his heart was with her on the other side.

Usually in times of despair, he went to Rey, knowing her bright smile and sunny eyes could cure any malady. But with her breaking his heart, he truly had no idea what to do.

So, like a little boy missing the warmth of his mother, he went home.