I split up in Omega disguise.

"Jasper, we’ve known each other for 18 years, and been together for four. Does my presence really mean less to you than a pheromone scent?"

"I’m so sorry, Rowan. It was just an accident. You’re the only one I love."

I was just an ordinary Beta, but to get stronger, I faked being an Omega at the military academy.

One day, I discovered my Alpha boyfriend had marked Ashton, my true Omega roommate.

I stared at Jasper. "Cheating is never a one-time thing. It’s always the first step to countless times."

"We’re over."

The day Jasper and I broke up, I underwent my second differentiation, turning into…

Now, all those sarcastic remarks I’d thrown at the Alphas at school?

They were about to come back to haunt me.

1

"You said you differentiated into… what?"

My best friend, Caleb, yelled, disbelief etched all over his face.

Everyone in the coffee shop turned to stare. I ducked my head, wishing I could just vanish.

"Lower your voice! Is it something to brag about?"

Caleb winced, then leaned closer, whispering, "Did you really differentiate into an Alpha?"

I nodded.

He sucked in a sharp breath. "Then you and Jasper are completely impossible now, aren't you?"

I offered a bitter smile. "It was impossible anyway. He already marked Ashton. A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass around its burrow, but he betrayed someone right under his nose."

If it hadn’t been my roommate, Ashton, who Jasper got involved with, I wouldn't have been so devastated.

We’d shared a dorm for three years, and Ashton and I had always been good friends.

He even used to playfully tease me about Jasper and me.

Now, though, there was a fresh mark from Jasper on the back of his neck.

I’d been betrayed by both my boyfriend and my roommate.

I grabbed my drink from the table and took a long swig. "Alright, I'm officially saying goodbye to the past."

"Help me move out of the dorm."

Since I’d differentiated into an Alpha, I obviously couldn’t stay in the Omega dorms anymore.

2

I purposely chose to move when Ashton was in class.

But I hadn’t expected him to take the day off.

He was lying on his dorm bed, a fever-reducing patch on his forehead, and Jasper’s scent was overwhelmingly strong on him.

When I was a Beta, I couldn't smell it, but now it was crystal clear.

I frowned, the instinctive repulsion of an Alpha to another Alpha’s pheromones kicking in.

But Ashton seemed to misunderstand.

He struggled to prop himself up. "Rowan, let me explain…"

I packed the last few scattered items into a cardboard box.

"Go on, I’m listening. Explain away."

After a long pause, a timid voice came from behind me.

"Rowan, you have no idea how much I envied you. I used to think you were an Omega, you chose mecha piloting, and your grades were just as good as those Alphas. Plus, you had such an amazing boyfriend… Jasper really loved you.

"Jasper and I, it was truly an accident. My heat came early, and if Jasper hadn’t been kind enough to help me, I would have gone into heat in a public place...