Used (Omega Market Book 1)

1.

***This is a side project at the moment and will not be updated regularly. I'm still trying to get a feel for the idea rolling around in my head. I'm not sure yet if I will keep it as-is and go sci-fi with it, or if I will change it a little and go dystopian/post-apocalyptic instead. Let me know your thoughts and what you would like to see.***

To be omega is to be subjugated.

Dominated.

Enslaved.

But it's also to be wanted.
Desired. Protected.

Valued.

Other omegas tried to hide from their fate. Tried to have a say in where, and who, they end up with.

It never worked.

They would be found. Caught, and dragged, crying and fighting the whole way.

If they were lucky enough to be found before their Heat, that is. They're always found once they go into Heat, and the results can be unpleasant. It was easier just to give yourself up.

Go to the collection center and avoid the stress.

Hiding away in the dark, half starving in the cold, just to put off what was going to happen anyway, seemed pointless. Showing up willingly, clean and docile, not scrawny from lack of food, seemed like the smarter way to go.

Seemed to me that I would get a better price that way, and it's obvious if someone can pay more for an omega, then they should have plenty for a decent home and food to eat. One could hope they would take care of their investment. Having a young, willing omega, that doesn't try to escape, or cry constantly, should be worth something.

According to the law, every omega was to present themselves to a collection center before their first Heat, to be matched with an Alpha with complementary genetics, who would then bond and mate them during their first cycle. Since omegas matured slower than others, that usually meant somewhere around their twentieth year.

We were told that it was for the good of future generations. That this was the way to assure diseases and genetic disorders were eradicated.

In reality, we were a commodity, like any other, to be sold to the highest bidder.
Some species naturally produce more omegas than others and we became a great way to create alliances with others. Especially for Earth, since human Alphas were even more rare than omegas were, and human females seemed to be compatible with any race.

Alphas had to pay a premium to have a chance to get matched, and the more you paid, the more choices you had.

We were filed in a galactic database where the Alphas could put in their preferences and browse through us. Hair and eye color, size and species.

Being virginal was not required.

Most omegas wanted their first time to be with who they chose, since we couldn't choose our match unless we were from an extremely wealthy family who could pull strings. I figured it was another thing that would increase my value though, so I had waited. No male had never interested me enough to make me think twice about it.

I brushed my hair till it shone and lay softly about my shoulders and down my back.

I was wearing a dress I made specially for this occasion. It was a blue that matched my eyes, and it hugged my curves enough to hint at what was underneath, without being indecent.

I'd spent the last month making it from cloth I used all my savings to purchase. Every penny I had earned, found, and been given, was invested into today.

I used a bit of soot to darken my eyelids and stepped back from the small bit of mirror on the wall. This was it. This was the day I had been planning for since I knew I was an omega.

I looked around my room one last time before stepping out and shutting the door behind me. It was hardly bigger than the single bed pressed against the wall and didn't hold anything important to me.

I left a note on the bed for the girls I lived with, so they would know what happened and that they could let someone else have my room and things. I knew they wouldn't agree with my decision, but that was fine.

A couple of them were omegas still holding out. I was actually younger than them since I just turned twenty today, but they had no plans to turn themselves in.

I had decided long ago that today would be the day. There was no reason for me to wait.

I stepped out of the building into the cool air with just a small bag over my shoulder. It had a couple pairs of clothes and not much else.

It was cool enough that standing still left me a bit chilled in nothing but my dress but walking to the center would warm me up.

I turned down the street without looking back. I had no reason to, with no sentimental attachment to where I had lived the past couple years. I knew I would be leaving it before I got there and had no second thoughts now that the time had come.

This was what was best for me.

I stopped a block from the center. It hadn't been too long of a walk and I had taken my time so I wouldn't arrive sweaty, but I still wanted to stop and freshen up a bit. First impressions could make a difference.

Once my breathing had slowed to a gentle rise and fall, I crossed the last bit of sidewalk leading me to my destiny.

Taking the stairs up to the front doors, my hear began to race. No one knew what was past them. No omega to cross through had ever returned, and the ones who worked there would be the last to talk about what happened within that building.

Fingers pressed to the handle, I paused, a shiver running down my spine. There was no turning back once I stepped through. My life would no longer be my own.

Thinking of the dreary, worn down buildings I had passed, and breathing in the smog-laced air, I straightened my shoulders and pulled.