Ben was on his way to his favourite spot in the gardens and was almost there when he heard a cry.
How dare someone be here of all places? This was his sanctuary.
He gave fair warning, knowing from his childhood that there was only one place to hide here. And that was when THAT smell hit him. Was she here, in the gardens? Was that why her aroma in the ballroom had faded so quickly? He had heard Omegas were shy, liked quiet dark places. His pulse quickened.
And then the servant boy, without his jacket and with his shirt half untucked, stood up his hands raised in surrender.
His first instinct was rage. How dare this boy be defiling HIS Omega and here of all places?! This was his sanctuary!
And then it became clear that there was no woman. When the boy mentioned Poe it all became obvious.
He knew Poe well, had played with him in these gardens as a child as Poe's parents had been two of Ben's mother's close advisors. He was now a soldier rising in the ranks of the royal army. Poe had always preferred boys to girls. And it seemed that somehow Poe had found himself the rarest of the rare—a male Omega. He must be the servant of whoever he smelled previously in the ballroom...
But damn, the boy smelled good. That same cherries, vanilla and something else. By the second Ben's rational brain was being eaten away.
Ben had never looked at a boy that way before. That wasn't something he'd ever considered. Conflict tore through him as fate twisted its knife. The boy tried to explain and beg for forgiveness. Ben stalked closer, but the boy stood his ground.
Ben's Alpha instinct whispered and cajoled. If he was with a boy at least he wouldn't need to worry about pregnancy and making a bastard... He had been so patient, waited so long. He deserved this. The boy smelled so ripe and ready. If he was with Poe then the boy was definitely into men, too, right?
"Shit. I can't help it." Ben closed the distance and kissed him firmly.
If Ben had thought the boy smelled good, then how he tasted was something else. He was short and must be on his tiptoes. Ben felt him gather a handful of Ben's shirt. Or was he pushing Ben away?
In panic, Ben broke the kiss and put as much distance between the two of them as possible. He tried to turn his back on the smell to clear his head. It didn't work. "Fuck, what am I doing?"
"Did I do something wrong?" Ben turned to the very sheepish looking servant boy. "I've never done that before. Kiss someone. Was I bad at it?"
Again, Ben gave a humourless laugh. It wasn't as if he had significantly more experience. An ambitious lady in waiting had once surprised him with a kiss when he was 17 year old. Ben had confided in Snoke and she had swiftly been sent home in disgrace. That was it. The sum total of his sexual experience.
The boy twisted the hem of his shirt, waiting on Ben's answer. The boy's eyes were wide and worried. He did have such pretty eyes.
"You did nothing wrong. No one knows what to do for their first kiss." Ben took a deep breath. "How old are you?"
"I'm nineteen."
"Do you want me to kiss you again?" Ben lifted his finger to pause the boy's response. "Don't worry, I'll let you go regardless of your answer. It's not a condition. The only condition is that neither of us speak of this again, okay?"
The was a moment of weighted silence as they held each other's gaze.
"Okay...and yes." The boy's voice almost faded away and looked embarrassed.
Inexperienced or not, Ben's Alpha took over and within seconds, he had cupped the boys face and crushed their lips together once more.