Page 161 of Incompatible

I let them start with White, but none of them knows much about chess, so despite their intense efforts and endlessdiscussions, they soon start playing chaotically without any plan, which makes my job extremely easy.

They whisper to each other, trying to come up with ‘elaborate’ strategies, but they have no idea what they’re doing on the board. Oswald thinks he knows something, but he doesn’t. He keeps correcting Zion’s ideas and giggling at Kaen’s which makes them furious with him. The whole game lasts maybe twenty minutes only because they take forever arguing crazily about every possible move.

Eventually they overexpose their queen, I manage to take it, and once they lose her they completely… lose their spirit too. It’s typical for people who think losing a queen is basically the end of the game.

They immediately start blaming each other.

"You said to move it here!"

"Well you said to put it there!"

"I didn’t! It was your idea!"

And I just watch them with pity. This is why I rarely play with people who aren’t at least semi-pro. Losing always makes them frustrated. Eventually they get so bored by the mental effort that they decide to go dance, and that’s my chance.

The moment Zion and Kaen leave, I stand up, but Oswald suddenly says, "We could go dance too," and reaches out his hand. "I’ve never danced with a chess master."

I grimace and dodge his hand with a desperate little move.

"I really have to go. It’s late, and I have early classes tomorrow," I say, trying to slip away.

"One dance, Alex, let yourself be convinced."

He stares at me with such intensity I know he isn’t going to back off, so again I give in.

Oswald grabs my hand and pulls me onto the dance floor, and I let out a groan because his touch sends an unpleasant shiver through me. He’s the first alpha to touch me since Bay,and it’s a shock to my system. I’m trembling, feeling this nervous spasm twist in my stomach. I yank my hand back, but there’s nothing more I can do, so I force myself to give in to the dance, and soon we’re swaying. Thankfully, the music doesn’t invite close contact and instead encourages stupid little hops. Good, his touch would probably make me throw up if it lasted; it feels that way.

So I go through these awkward, flimsy little movements, swinging from side to side and feeling unbelievably uncomfortable, especially because Oswald keeps staring at me the whole time. Every motion he makes is pretty obvious; he shifts his hips slightly forward, he tries to catch my hand and coax me into spinning, but I dodge every time, and his whole body language tells me how intensely he’s keyed up about me.

Eventually the music fades and I use the moment of confusion to whip around and head for the door.

But of course Oswald rushes after me, and I hear his footsteps as I run down the stairs outside the building.

"Hey Alex, what’s going on? Why are you running off like that? We were having fun."

I don’t say anything, and maybe that’s a mistake, and perhaps I should stop and calmly explain why it’s a bad idea for us to spend any more time together, but I don’t do that. I just bolt down the walkway like some feral creature, putting as much distance between me and the dorm as possible.

Another huge mistake, because for many alphas a fleeing omega is an omega worth chasing, that animal part of their nature is hard to suppress, especially with Oswald being drunk.

He follows right behind me, step for step, but he stays silent, which somehow makes it even worse.

I finally start to jog, but who am I kidding, there’s no way I can outrun an alpha who’s more than a foot taller than me.

"Leave me alone, I need to go home!" I shout over my shoulder.

"I don’t get why you’re being so wild, I just want to talk, I think you’re really cute… seriously a gorgeous omega, people don’t notice because of all that hair but—"

"But I’m not interested! Do you not understand that?" I snap, and I finally stop, which turns out to be the worst possible place because there’s no one around, just these paths surrounded by trees.

I’m furious with myself because for all my caution, I’m making stupid mistakes one after another, and I really need a better strategy for moving around campus. I should probably start with a petition to the dean asking him to remove every single bush on campus grounds, and I almost laugh at how ridiculous that thought sounds.

"What’s the deal, Alex, I see you in class, you’re always alone or with that Dereck guy, is he your boyfriend or what?"

"No," I yell, and immediately bite my tongue because maybe that would’ve been a way to fend off his advances.

"I don’t want a boyfriend, I’m not interested in that."

I start to turn away, but Oswald grabs my hand, maybe it’s innocent, maybe he just wants to talk, but again that painful, nervous attack hits me from the touch of an unfamiliar alpha, and it sends this awful, stinging current through my skin.