Beta Complex

Ethan turns around, his eyes wide. There is no way those words just came out of his mouth. "What did you say?"

"Fuck," Zander reaches up to run a hand through his hair, messing up the near perfect style. "I didn’t want to say it like that." Things are not going the way he expected it to. Not that he’s surprised, either.

"Did you even want to say it at all?" Ethan hisses out. He takes a step closer, his hands balled into fists at his side. This alpha sure has a lot of nerves!

It’s the wrong time to be thinking this, not at all appropriate, but Ethan is too cute when he’s mad.

"You ghost me for two years," The beta snaps out, his nostrils flaring with anger, "And I find out through the news that you’re getting married to an omega," Ethan hates the way his voice cracks over the words, "and then you come here and you tell me you imprinted on me?"

What is Ethan supposed to think about all this? How does a dominant alpha even imprint on a beta, if what he says is true at all. The beta doesn’t take Zander as a liar, but he also didn’t take him to be a coward and to run away the way he did. So, what exactly does Ethan know? When it comes to the dominant alpha before him, nothing at all.

"I-" Zander tries to do something, anything really to diffuse the direction of where this is going, but Ethan doesn’t let him.

"You make no sense!" He scoffs, hating the way the tears come back with a vengeance. Why is it always him crying? "For a dominant alpha you sure are fucking dense!"

"Ethan I-" Zander takes a step closer, desperate to touch him. To put his palm against his cheek and wipe away the stray tear that slides down. He wants to pull him into his arms and never let him go.

And Zander plans to do that, to never make the same mistake and keep him forever.

"Sit down!" Ethan shouts and Zander clenches his jaw. His instincts tell him to put Ethan in his place, because how dare a beta try to tell him what to do? But this is more than that. Ethan doesn’t have the same instincts as an omega and he never will.

He swallows down his pride, ignoring the way his chest burns and sits down.

Ethan sniffs, wipes at his nose and takes a shuddering breath. Gathering his wits, he crosses his arms over his chest and glares down at the dominant alpha. He won’t admit that it feels good to stare down at him the way he is.

"When did you imprint on me?" Ethan asks in a much calmer voice despite being anything but. His heart won’t stop beating hard against his rib cage, and he feels like a stranger in his own skin.

Zander imprinted on him, a regular beta.

Zander swallows, looking away to stare down at his hands. His finger starts to tap on the table, but he doesn’t bother to stop this time. What if Ethan wants nothing to do with him, truly? What if he really can’t get Ethan to forgive him?

"The first time we met." Zander whispers. There’s an audible swallow.

"How?"

"You-" Zander sighs. He peeks up at him through his thick eyelashes, his heart skipping a beat when he makes eye contact with his imprinted mate. "I don’t know." He clears his throat, unable to look away from him. Not when it’s been so long since Zander was able to truly look.

Ethan looks broader, stronger, and Zander wonders if he’s been working out lately.

"You were just there," Zander’s voice is soft. A strange tone that makes Ethan shift on his feet. His skin breaks into goosebumps, the pressure in the room making a sweat break out. "And you were so pretty for a beta, and your indifferent attitude-"

"I heard alphas have no control over who they imprint." Ethan cuts him off with a frown. He starts to pace in the private dining room. "If you imprinted on me then why did you leave?"

Zander bites his bottom lip, and he finally looks away as his consciousness eats away at him, "I felt guilty."

"You felt guilty for imprinting on me?" Ethan asks with furrowed eyebrows. He stops pacing, his brown eyes falling onto Zander’s tapping finger.

"No, not that. You-" The alpha groans and he drags a hand down his face. That’s when Ethan sees it. Zander is not as well put together as the beta thought he was. He looks miserable and out of place.

"You were attacked because of me." The dominant alpha stresses. His knee starts to bounce up and down, his eyes looking at anything but him, despite how desperate he wants to. He suddenly looks starved. "Chris targeted you because of me. He tried to change you into an alpha, determined to be with you. You got hit by a car and almost died-" Zander chokes and he stands up. He takes a step towards him but forces himself to stop, rooted to the spot. His knuckles are white as he clenches his hands at his sides.

"I don’t understand." Ethan whispers.

Zander takes a deep breath, his entire body shuddering because the room smells only like Ethan. The scent of his body wash, the faintest brush of his cologne, of the detergent he uses to wash his clothes. It’s too much and yet not enough all at the same time.

It’s torturous, because all he wants to do is hold him. And Ethan won’t let him. Zander only has himself to blame.

"Our parents arranged for us to be married." Zander bites out, and Ethan can hear the disgust in his voice. "Chris, I mean." He explains. He finally lifts his gaze up to Ethan’s, the purple ring around his irises expanding.

Ethan is reminded of the time Zander went feral, the image faint. He takes a step towards him, desperate to put his worries at ease, but then what about himself? What about his worries?