I Hated Him First

I hated David Lucas the second he walked into our house. Not disliked. Not distrusted. Hated. The air shifted when he stepped into the living room, like the whole place suddenly belonged to him. My Omega instincts flared hard and fast. Alpha. Strong. Controlled. The kind of man who didn’t ask for space... he took it. My mother looked at him like he was the best thing that had ever happened to her. I looked at him like he was a threat. “Lucy, this is David,” Mom said, smiling too hard, holding his hand like she was proud of him. “David, this is my daughter.” He turned those dark eyes on me and held out his hand. Big. Confident. Expecting. I stared at it. Then I looked him dead in the eyes and left him hanging. The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. “Nice to meet you,” he said anyway, voice low and calm, like my refusal didn’t bother him at all. That only made me hate him more. “She’s just tired from school,” Mom laughed nervously. “Nursing is stressful. Final year is no joke.” I didn’t say a word. I turned around, walked to my room, and shut the door hard enough to rattle the frame. Behind me, I heard Mom’s embarrassed laugh and the deep sound of his voice answering her. Just the tone of it made my skin crawl. I sat on my bed, jaw tight, heart beating too fast. I already knew. This man was going to ruin everything. They dated for three months. Three months of him showing up every single weekend like he owned the place. I’d drive home from university exhausted, only to find his black Range Rover parked outside our house. The moment I opened the door, his scent hit me — sandalwood and something darker that made my stomach twist against my will. I hated that scent. I hated that I noticed it. He was polite. Always polite. That was the worst part. He never raised his voice. Never argued. Never gave me a clean reason to explode. He just existed in our space with that quiet, unshakable confidence, watching me with those unreadable eyes like he was patiently waiting for something. I told Mom not to marry him. I said it clearly. More than once. The last time, I didn’t even try to be calm. “He’s an Alpha, Mom. Men like him don’t love quietly. They take. They claim. You’re going to disappear inside his life.” She only smiled and touched my face like I was still a child. “You’ll understand one day,” she said softly. I wanted to scream until my throat tore. The wedding was small and suffocating. I stood there in a pale blue dress, forcing a smile for the photos while my mother married a man I couldn’t stand. Every second of it felt like a slow betrayal. Then they moved into his house. The first time I drove through those tall black gates, my chest tightened. The place was massive, cold, and perfect.. all glass and stone. My old car looked pathetic next to his Range Rover. The second I stepped inside, his scent wrapped around me like it had been waiting for me. Mom called the weekends “family time.” They felt like punishment. And the longer I stayed under his roof, the worse it got. Because my body started betraying me. I noticed the way his shirts stretched across his shoulders. I noticed the deep sound of his voice. I noticed the way the air felt heavier whenever he entered a room. I told myself it was just instinct. Just biology. Just an Omega reacting to a powerful Alpha. But deep down, something darker was already growing. And I hated him for that most of all.