Anteros: A Tale of Requited Love

The Dam Bursts

Chapter 16

Stefanos wanted to run. His brothers can take care of the meetings. He needs to run and clear his mind before he blasts out on someone else next. He ran. He calmed down after an hour of running. He stopped before the edge of the pack lands and looked back at the palace. He can't feel anything from Niles. Maybe because of the distance. He was honest when he spoke to his brother. But to have Niles hear it all is completely different. Hurting Niles in some way or other is nothing new for him and he has come to see it as the fucked up relationship they have.

Stefanos closed his eyes as he sat by the river. He remembered how Niles had shyly initiated the kiss in the morning. He couldn't help but smile fondly as he thought about it. He got up and ran back home. His anger and irritation were still simmering. Thankfully, no one said anything. Kristof made him sit and eat his breakfast but did not ask anything else. Nikolas was nowhere in sight. Vasileios was sitting neat big brother and they spoke to him about what happened with the deal. He did not see Niles around. He was irritated at them for not bringing up Niles either because he can't feel Niles strongly. He only gets waves of unease.

He got up and went to his room and realised Niles was in their second bedroom in the suite. He sat down on the bed and thought of everything that happened. He did not know what to tell Niles either, how to talk about the conversation now.

Meanwhile, Niles sensed his alpha's arrival. He looked at the second room. It is smaller but he felt less suffocated than he did in the morning at the office. Those words echoed in his mind. He had always known the things his Alpha said but after yesterday, he had hoped. A tiny bit of hope had risen in him and in the morning everything was so beautiful between them. To hear it all from his Alpha's mouth was painful but Niles thinks he needed to hear that to set his life straight.

He took a deep breath. Even if it killed him, he is going to do the right thing. The brave thing. He opened the door and stepped into the living room and saw Stefanos sitting in the bed deep in thought. He reached the door to the bedroom.

"Alpha"

Stefanos sensed it when Niles stepped out. He did not know how to start talking about anything.

"What do you want?" he asked instead, his fury and uncertainty coming out rather harsh when he asked the question. He internally cringed. He did not even turn to look at Niles yet.

"Nothing," said Niles. The way he said nothing gave Stefanos a pause and he turned. Niles looked well but somehow the openness of his face was not there.

"What?" asked Stefanos.

"I said I want nothing from you, Alpha King. You don't owe me anything just because we mated. See the thing is, Alpha I can never be what you want. I am not the kind of omega you wanted in your life, not the kind of mate you wanted. I would love to have everything with you but I cannot be someone I am not. I don't want you to pretend something you are not. And you will never love me as I am. I will never be enough for you and I have accepted that the day we mated. It was stupid of me to try and impress you with my skills and by learning new things that you would have liked to see in your omega. You never even noticed. I mean, it would have meant the world to me if you said I did well that day when everyone did that presentation. You praised everyone but-," Niles broke off. He took a deep breath.