The ticking of the clock above the office door had Eric on edge. He stared at it, watching the hand move around in the circle, his mind overactive with thoughts of what was beyond the door, within the lab. He thought of the intoxicating scent of the woman, the omega, that he came to see almost every day. He didn’t think that his time away, on another call to a different facility, would put such a strain on his body and mind, his pheromones almost choking him with their need to see her, but as he stood in front of the door to the laboratory, he realized how far gone he was.

For an omega that was half his age, as well. Someone he could never have. An omega that was for the greater good. For the use of repopulating the alpha and omega races. He needed to get a grip, clear her from his mind.

"Dr. Addler, good morning."

One of the technicians, Sam, ran up to his side, waving him down. He stopped a few feet away, breathing heavily. He was their newest hire, straight out of college, but he was proving to be quite useful.

Eric smiled down at the kid, "How's everything been going this last week?"

"The tests are running smoothly. The heads have decided another course of action that the lead scientists have already taken action on."

He paused for a moment, following the words that Sam had said. "What do you mean?"

Sam rubbed the back of his neck with his thin fingers, his beta energy more weakened than normal. "You've been gone for a week, but to be honest they've been planning this behind your back."

Eric’s body tensed. "Planning what?"

"They've experimented, found the best possible solution to guarantee a strong fertilization."

The world zeroed in around the beta, Eric’s body thrumming with the fear of what he would say. "What are you talking about?"

"The subject, her heat will begin within two weeks. They wanted to be ready so they created four donors that would be susceptible to their orders."

Eric could feel his blood run cold as his colleague explained. It couldn’t be… right? "What the hell are you talking about."

His young features morphed as lowered his head and pivoted around. "Follow me, doctor."

It didn’t take long for Sam to lead Eric through the corridors of the compound and down a flight of steps before entering a large, iron door. Inside were four cages. Eric had to squint in the dim lighting to see what was inside. A man, no, a beast, resided in each one. Hulking creatures with their pheromones lingering around their bodies like a miasma. Their eyes pinned Eric to the ground, their ferocity and animalistic hunger echoing around him like a deep growl. "What the fuck..."

"They are genetically alpha already, but the scientists wanted to make sure that the subject was impregnated during her next cycle, so they used bioengineering and spliced their DNA with that of animals. Ones that were specifically harsher heat cycles and need to breed. Strong dominant characteristics."

Sam was unaffected from the beastly alphas, as much as he could be anyway, since his beta senses weren’t heightened enough to catch the pheromones of the alphas. Eric on the other hand, was affected by them to the point that perspiration beaded on his temple. He had never been so affected by another alpha before. "So they made them into beasts."

"Basically."

He tried to swallow through the lump in his throat, but when he made eye contact with one of the animals, he choked, forcing himself to breathe through his nose. "And they want to breed them with her?"

"Yes."

He pivoted away and all but ran from the room, clinging to the wall in order to stay upright. Once his body had regained some of its strength, he forced out, "I won't let that happen."

Sam was at his side now, his hand hovering just above Eric’s shoulder as though he wanted to comfort the alpha. "Doctor?"

Eric seethed, anger blazing through his veins. He straightened and moved back through the halls, his mind reeling. "She's not some lab rat they can do whatever they want with. She's a human being, so are they. Or at least they used to be."

Sam hurried after him, almost running to keep up.

"But what we've already done to her..."

Snapping, Eric grunted, "Fuck, I know. It's not right, none of this is."

They turned around the corner until they neared the main lab where a neon light blinked ‘Entrance’.

"It's for the greater good. Our species needs this to survive. Soon omegas, and even alphas, will be extinct. This is the only future we have."

Frustration wracked around inside Eric’s body until he couldn’t handle the stress anymore and shouted, "Fuck!"

It wasn’t until the screaming within his own mind had subsided that he realized that he had punched out at the wall, the jolt still aching within his knuckles. He pulled back slowly, dropping his arm to his side and faced the technician.

"I have work to do, go."

"But we need to prepare for when she wakes up next. We have to prepare the serum."

He stopped him before the technician could get any closer to the entrance of the lab. "I'll do it."

Sam hesitated for a moment, searching Eric’s features for the reason why he was doing this, but he soon gave up and backed down. "Okay."

He soon departed and left Eric alone. He took a deep breath in before pushing opening the double doors of the lab and striding in. Everything was so sterile and neat, but the nausea that had slowly begun to build within him burned his throat.

There she was, the center of it all. A beautiful, damaged omega that he had a hand it corrupting. Subject 143 was their last hope in finding a solution to the depleting races, but was it really worth what they had forced upon her? She didn’t deserve this.

Eric moved through the lab, but halted near one of the workstations, too scared to get any closer. He was compliant in everything they had done to her, even this. What they would do during her next heat cycle. The subtle waft of her pheromones told him that it might be sooner than a couple of weeks like Sam had said.

The twist within his chest and pang in his gut told him that he needed to do something about it. That he couldn’t walk away again, turning his back on her like before. Not her. He knew her real name, because he had been itching to learn more about their subject. The beautiful omega that had been through so much. The one who’s eyes seemed to look right through him when she was awake.

Jessica Renshaw.

Fiery and fierce.

A force that shouldn’t be taken lightly, though his people surely had. He stood still, his eyes scouring every inch of her face to etch her into his memory. He knew what he had to do, and that it would not end well for him. His heart had betrayed the science that ran in his veins, and his instinctive alpha genetics had enforced the decision. Eric was to get her out of here. Get her to the outside and let her be free. To live as freely as an omega could in their world.

As his thoughts settled into their places and he took a step forward, Jess shifted. A groan of effort escaped her and her brow twitched. Eric paused, his heart thundering in his ears. She usually never woke up on her own. She had to be given a serum that negated the affects of the sedative. So how was this possible?

Her lips parted, a soft breath escaping.

And then she opened her eyes…