To Be Loved

Prologue

He was walking home when his skin started feeling itchy and he felt like he was on fire. He was sweating profusely as he ran upto his room and locked himself in. He was confused. He was a beta and everyone had accepted that Louis Tomlinson was a beta.

He fell into a feverish haze as all his nerve endings lit up in an attempt to burn him thoroughly. Tears cascaded down his burning cheeks as slick slid down his thighs, dampening the sheets beneath.

No no no

Louis could not be an omega. No man was an omega. An alpha or a beta was acceptable, but an omega was not something he had ever heard of. He lost all sense of time after that. The next time he woke up, Louis felt like his body had been used as a punching bag. All his muscles were sore and he was parched. Disoriented and confused, he heaved himself off the bed and made it into his compact bathroom.

As soon as the cold water hit his aching and burning skin, he sighed in relief. He knew what he was and he knew the procedure that followed. He had to attend the 'O Festival' where they would be picked by an alpha to be mated. The alpha's varied from young ones to old ones from different packs. He was excited at the thought of having a mate. He looked at himself through the mirror.

He traced his curves and smiled to himself, his vision growing narrower as his eyes crinkled. He was going to have a mate. He pulled a soft sweater over his cooling skin and got himself ready by adjusting his lose shorts. His exhaustion was small in comparison to the pure happiness he felt when he thought of being loved by someone so much that they were each other's entire world.

When he pulled his door open, he was met with silence. His heart dropped. Were his parents not at home? His worries soon faded when he heard soft murmurs from downstairs. He followed the chatter until he was stood concealed because darn him, he was curious as to what they were saying, but he knew as soon as he made himself known, the chatter would come to an abrupt halt.

"He is an omega, Reese!" His father's voice hissed. "How could you give birth to an abomination like that?" Louis' heart stuttered in his chest as he felt a pang of hurt come to life. "We will be outcasts because of that....that thing." His father's voice burned into him with his words.

"I did not know Peter. Do you think I would have kept him if I knew? Do I look stupid?!" His mother's voice countered and Louis felt like garbage. What did she mean by "kept?" Louis felt his heartache grow steadily. "What kind of boy turns out to be an omega?!" The forced words added to the hurt that Louis was feeling.

He knew two betas having an omega son was highly unlikely. He knew that a boy being an omega was highly unlikely, but he never thought he would hear such harsh words leaving his parents lips. The same parents who read him bedtime stories, and fed him. The same parents that played football with him and sang to him. There were parts of his childhood he preferred to forget like the odd cold looks his parents gave him or the curl of their lips when he spoke too much. He never thought something as dumb as this would be the reason his parents spoke of him like this.

"Pray Reese. Pray that some horny alpha finds this kid attractive enough to mate because only the goddess knows the shame we will have to face if he doesn't get chosen at this week's festival." His father groaned.

That was when Louis made himself known. His cheeks were red and burning from the tears he had wiped away haphazardly. "Morning mama." He attempted his usual cheeriness, but from the way his parents tensed, he knew it would never be the same.
"Papa." His tight lipped smile was pulled against his face almost painfully as he moved past them to grab a glass of water for himself.

"How are you feeling?" His mother asked, her usual happiness and inquisitiveness long gone. Louis did not know if that made it worse.

"Okay," he lied, but they did not push because Louis realised then that they were slowly losing the love they had for him and somewhere deep down Louis understood that if his parents could not love him, no one could, but maybe, just maybe there would be an alpha at this week's festival who liked him just enough to take him as his mate.