Chapter Text
A Luthor ball was a splendidly boring affair.
Diplomats, aristocrats, wealthy ne’er do-wells, the classic crowd—they were already gathering downstairs in the ballroom of the stately Luthor manse, awaiting the announced arrival of their hosts. Usually, that meant Lillian, the omega queen of the household, and her precious-favored-alpha son, Alexander, would make their appearance at the top of the stairs and descend grandly. As the omega daughter, Lena was expected to be right behind them, demurely at their heels, but she usually made her escape early, or at least procured a flask from one of the waitstaff. This particular evening, however, was proving markedly different.
Horridly so.
“Tighter.” Lillian commanded, leaning into her sherry glass as she watched the maids bustle Lena into her corset. “I won’t have it said that a Luthor girl does not have a proper waist.”
“Mother.” Lena wheezed, hand to her rapidly-concaving chest, as the omega maid moved busily behind her, setting the ribbons in their restrictive order. “A waist is the least of our problems.”
“Yes, I know.” Lillian’s eyes glittered sharply, as they always did when reminded, however briefly, of her favored child’s failures. “But your brother is not the one on display tonight, and I don’t know a man born who doesn’t appreciate a slim waist and a high set of tits. Tighter , Cherise.”
Gulping, the maid obeyed.
“Where is Lex?” Lena managed, sucking for air with each pull. “Drunk at the card tables, isn’t he?”
“Don’t speak that way.” Lillian admonished, her tongue almost as fierce as the finger jabbed into Lena’s vulnerable midsection. The elder omega always knew her soft spots—both literally and figuratively, in many cases. “Your brother has always supported you. The least you can do is support your family now, in his place.”
“Oh that’s very droll, Mother.” Lena spat, muffled by the dress dropping over her shoulders as Cherise worked hurriedly behind her back. “ Very droll indeed. Supporting the family is what we’re calling it now?”
She shook her hair out and the maid clucked despairingly as six pins scattered to the floor. “I call it breeding stock auction sales. And to the lowest bidder, no less.”
“Don’t be crass.” Lillian was flushed, but her tone dropped into cajoling, as if Lena were a child again, easily wooed by a doll or a pony. “Look, it’s not all bad, Lena. This is how your father and I met, you know. And there are some very eligible bachelors here. Maxwell Lord is quite interested to—“
“Maxwell Lord is only interested in using our fortune to plunder the better part of the West Indies. Mother, really .”
Lena shooed Cherise gently away as she fluffed her hair out, forgoing the tight, conservative bun that the maid was trying for. “If the contract only says that I must marry to preserve our fortune then why now ? Why can it not be after I have finished at Lawrence?”
“You’ve had all the schooling you’ll need from that silly women’s college. Why your father indulged you in that fancy I’ll never know.”
Lillian sighed, and then pulled a cigarette from her gold case with a snap. She put it to her holder and beckoned Cherise, who obediently lit a wick from the gas lamp and brought the flame close so that the elder omega could puff the paper to ash-y life.
“And you know why, darling. Because we need to replace the money that your brother squandered away, and the trust funds were tied to your father’s fancy about continuing the line. We can’t release them from the bloody bank until you’re married.”
She inhaled deeply and coughed, and her voice grew solemn. “And it’s a terrible thing to do, to an omega. I know it. You know I know it. But you must , or we all go down with Alexander.”
Sharp, gray-green eyes latched onto her own. “In this case, Lena dear, you are all the hope the Luthor line has left.”
And there it was. Lena knew this, of course. One didn’t come of age in a house full of secrets like this and not learn how to successfully glean pertinent information when one wanted to. But it was one thing to learn the gossip from servants and quite another to be confronted with it at last, by her stepmother herself.
Lillian had never exactly been cruel to her, but she hadn’t always been pleasant either, and their relationship was generally one of grudging, if slightly resentful, mutual respect. For Lillian to be so frank with her, so—- kind , even—now that was unusual. It took a long moment for the younger Luthor omega to blink and take it all in.
“Fine.” Lena acquiesced, after a silent pause in which she could feel, for the first time, an infinitesimal understanding for how Lillian must have felt, as a young woman, before meeting her father, the distant, already-half-dead alpha she would marry, and the barest hint of sympathy escaped her finely-built inner defenses.
Doing her best to tamp that down, she snapped: “But I’m choosing the alpha. You shan’t be herding me into Maxwell Lord, nor any of his ilk.”
Lillian smiled grimly back at her. “ Fine . But I’m not tolerating your games, child. You have until midnight.”
They both shared a quick look at the grandfather clock behind Lillian, on the wall of Lena’s bedroom, where the time read six o’clock. Lena opened her mouth to protest that that wasn’t much time at all, but Lillian caught her eyes again, sharply.
“Choose wisely, but quickly , my dear. Or I’ll choose for you.”
So that was that. No more sympathy. On either end.
***
Lena made her entrance as expected, dutifully and patiently following after Lillian until they made their way down to the bottom of the steps. Then, shooting a carefully neutral look back at her watching stepmother, she melted into the crowd, intending to find the nearest table of drinks and steady her nerves. But she only made it halfway across the ballroom before she bumped right into the well-fitting suited chest of Maxwell Lord. Of course .
“Lena.” The alpha’s smile was practically dripping oil as he curled an already-possessive hand around her upper shoulder. “Where are you off to in such a hurry? Your mother mentioned we should talk .”
“Did she?” Lena’s smile was affixed with only the barest hint of politeness. “She must have been mistaken. Will you excuse me, Mr. Lord?”
“Don’t be coy, now.” Maxwell moved in closer, and his musk made her nose want to curl off her face. “Your mother told me of the predicament you’re in. There’s no need to feign omega nerves. Why not simply make the announcement now? I can have my arrayers draw up the papers in a trice. Your fortune can be restored by tomorrow morning.”
And you can be in my bed tonight? I don’t think so, Lord old boy. Lena’s smile was hanging by a proverbial thread but she soldiered on. “My mother may have said many things, Mr. Lord, but I am still an omega capable of marrying whom I choose.”
Maxwell made a face. It did not make him any handsomer in her eyes. “Oh piss. You omegas are so fickle. Look, it’s really not that hard. I’m the only alpha in here with any sort of standing, so your choice is clear, isn’t it?”
He hadn’t released her arm, and his grip tightened, even now. Lena’s smile had snapped and she attempted to pull away, struggling. “Mr. Lord, you’re being uncouth . Release me at once.”
“And abandon you to the charms of my competitors? No, I think—“
But Lord’s smarmy advances were interrupted by an almost-nervous cough off to Lena’s left. “Miss Luthor? You’re needed in the kitchen?”
Lena had never been needed in any kitchen in her life, and it was improbable that it would be so now, but she wasn’t complaining when she saw her rescuer. Lord’s hand fell slack on her arm and he stepped away, as a tall, slim-hipped blonde alpha from the waitstaff appeared, hovering behind Lena like an imposing shadow. Her mouth was apologetic but her eyes—bright blue, like a kingfisher—were steely hard on Lord until he stepped all the way back.
“Til later then.” Lord promised her, darkly, and made a showy leg, eyes never leaving her bosom. “I’ll find you.”
No you won’t, if I have anything to say about it. Lena thought, but she only smiled stiffly, and watched him melt into the crowd. Then, she turned her attentions on her savior.
“Are you alright, miss? I’m sorry, it’s just—you looked like you needed an excuse not to talk to him.” The alpha had now shifted to at least three inches shorter, slouching a bit in apology for her presumption.
What a strange woman . She had the wheat-blonde and wide shoulders of a Kansas skyline. And her accent was broad and Middle-American, flatter on the consonants than the continental style that Lillian and the others in her ring of society preferred. But her lips had a lovely aristocratic fullness, and her lashes were longer than a schoolgirl’s—-a charming sight, even with the musk of alpha lingering on her pores. Lena was surprised to find she didn’t mind. The scent was even…pleasant. Lena found herself staring into those blue eyes, ready to lean in a bit closer, even.
Who are you, I wonder, to be so bold as to come to a Luthor’s rescue?
“Thank you.” Lena didn’t often offer gratitudes, after a lifetime of cold, silent halls and bitter sniping at the dinner table, but she felt inclined to break old habits, just now. Her hand went to her hair, almost unconsciously. “I do think I needed an excuse, and you came in quite handily.”
“Well, then I’m glad to be of service.” There it was. The lowest of rumbles. A deeper, more alpha-heavy tone that made the little hairs lift on the back of Lena’s aristocratic neck. The blue eyes were boring into her now, eating her whole. She licked her lips, and pictured the flash of black that might soon inhabit the steady blue.
But then the alpha shook herself, slightly, like a dog shivering in reproach, and the hard edge in her blue eyes softened, becoming more servile and rounded. She gulped, quickly, and when she spoke the rumble had gone. “I—-that is, I am pleased you’re alright. I should return to my duties, excuse me.”
“Wait.” Lena had the commanding voice of a Luthor, even if she was an omega, and the alpha immediately arrested her meek attempt to sidle away. It was such a curious thing, the way she behaved—Lena had never met such a deferential alpha, even one of the servant class. She had to know more. “What is your name?”
“K-Kara, miss.” The alpha dropped her head in a bob, eyes firmly seated on the floor. “Kara Danvers.”
Kara Danvers. Lena liked the way that name rolled smoothly off her tongue. She also thought the alpha attached to said name would do the same. The corners of her mouth turned catlike. “I haven’t seen you before.”
“Well-I only started this week, miss.” The alpha’s throat bobbed, quickly.
A lie. But why?
Lena’s tenacious mind was intrigued, and ready to pounce, when a polite ahem turned her attention away to an alpha at her elbow, waiting with an obsequious smile. Lena felt like snarling, but used polite dither instead, and by the time she’d managed to turn back, Kara Danvers had slipped away into the crowd, melting into the sea of other suits and staff uniforms, blurring like a black-backed tide. Lena frowned, but her mind was tugged away again, ever elsewhere. The alphas of the upper west society were determined to make their intentions known, and there was no time to go looking into the backstories of her waitstaff.
But the scent and rumble of Kara Danvers snagged on her mind, like a thorn in her dress, for the rest of the evening, and well into the night.
***
As the clock chimed out the ten golden notes for the hour, Lena fled to the balcony. She was starting to despair. Four hours already gone, and she was no closer to finding a suitable alpha than she was to finding a unicorn. Each odious suitor had made his play—Benjamin Lockwood and Morgan Edge chief among them. Those two left as bitter a taste in her mouth as did Lord, but they all circled in like sharks scenting blood in the water, chasing away any half-decent selections.
Granted, James Olsen had made his bid as well, and he was handsome and somewhat respectful, but nothing in Lena thrilled to the idea of him in her bed.
She was resigning herself to selecting Olsen anyway, just to avoid the trifecta of alpha unpleasantness in the form of Lockwood, Edge and Lord, but the night air and the heavy moon above had her feeling more melancholy about it than strictly necessary. Lena sighed, and let her chin nest in her palm, fingers edging on the marble railing. Maybe she could fake some omega hysteria and insist on being sent to a Parisian resting house. There were so few options left to her, as a lady of a certain status , now.
A cautious breath on the other side of the balcony alerted her in an instant that she wasn’t alone.
Lena whirled, ready to make herself presentable again in the case of her mother or one of her society omega friends, but the fidgeting, hunched form in the shadows was accompanied by a waft of familiar, unobtrusive scent. Lena breathed it in, readily.
The alpha from before. Kara.
“Sorry to intrude on you.” Kara stepped more fully into the wide swath of moonlight on the marble and inclined her chin, respectfully. From behind her waistcoat-covered-back, she produced a thin cigarette holder and a silver case, holding them aloft like a tempting beacon. “I was about to step out for a smoke, but I can—“
“God above, I’d kill for one of those right now.” Lena spoke without thinking, and found herself reaching for the case with grabbing fingers.
Kara’s surprised chuckle was benign and pleasant on the ear, as was the warmth of her fingers on Lena’s skin when they exchanged the case and holder. “No need for such drastic measures, miss. Here.”
“Thank you. That’s twice now you’ve been kind to me.” The case had a satisfactory snap when she closed it, and the smell of the tobacco was rich when she slid the paper into the holder.
Lena leaned closer to let Kara light the end for her, and when the alpha struck a match and cupped it to shield the flame, the flash of orange brought her face into sudden, glorious light.
A well-made face, to be sure. Lena thought, as she drew on the embers with a sharp, practiced inhale. And quite the dashing figure, when she doesn’t slouch so. Hmm.
The alpha might have noticed Lena sizing up her options like a butcher at an auction yard, because she took a sidelong glance and then a respectful step back. “I think you’re generally easy to be kind to, miss.”
That made Lena laugh uproariously, delighted by the alpha’s naive chivalry. “Oh that might be going too far, but thank you. You are too kind, you know.”
She took another drag on the cigarette, eyes glittering at the twitch in the blonde’s lip. “Where do you come from, Kara Danvers?”
“I—“ The alpha swallowed, and she almost appeared to want to slouch again, but to Lena’s approval, she righted herself. “I’m just from down the coast, miss. Nowhere special. A little town called Midvale.”
“Midvale.” Lena echoed, watching the blue puff of smoke dance around the moonlight. “What made you want to leave a no-doubt idyllic burg for the grime of National City?”
“Work.” Kara put it bluntly, and Lena blinked. “Begging your pardon, miss, but—“ her fingers twitched. “There’s jobs here. No jobs in Midvale. Simple as that.”
“And you need the money.” Lena felt like being blunt herself, with her metaphorical time for such freedoms running out. She inhaled again, deeply.
“Yes.” Kara’s blue gaze was unwavering, and there was no lie there this time. “Money’s…a problem. My—well, she’s sort of my adopted mother—she’s sick and my adopted pa ran off with most of the money.” There was real pain in the raise of her lip when she looked down. “Silly bastard. Uh. That is. Pardon me, miss.”
“Please.” Lena waved a hand, all senses alert. She was fascinated with every word that dropped from those cherubic lips. “What ails your mother, do you know?”
Kara shrugged. “Doctor in town isn’t much good, m’fraid. My sister and I…well, we found a decent sanitorium, and they can help her, but it’s expensive. My sister sent me to make the payments by working out here, and send them back home when I can.”
Lena was captivated. More than that, she was interested, and her body had begun to signal its approval with the waft of omega perfume. She could tell Kara had noticed. Her voice had dropped a few octaves and her eyes were starting to slide to the curve of Lena’s décolletage , which was definitely the desired effect of the corset. Lena was almost ready to mentally thank Lillian for that—
But then of course Lillian herself had to go and spoil things, as usual.
“Lena?” The ringing call may as well have been a horsewhip, for all the way the elder omega wielded it. When Lena turned away from Kara Danvers’ suddenly shrinking form, she could see that her mother was fuming mad.
“What are you doing on the balcony? Mr. Edge was looking for you.”
Lena could read beneath the lines there as easily as she could read Latin or French. ‘ Why are you talking to this servant when you are to be finding a suitable mate? And are you smoking ?’
She wanted to roll her eyes, but managed a polite smile instead. “Yes, mother. Coming right away.”
“Good.” Lillian cut her eyes at Kara with the deepest of disdain, and then gave a similar look to her rebellious adopted daughter. “And put that cigarette out.”
With that, she was gone, and Lena’s shoulders relaxed, bringing a sigh to her lips. “Ah. Well I’ve been caught, my apologies. I should get back to the fray.”
“It was my pleasure.” Kara inclined her head, retreating back into the shadows. “Perhaps I shall see you again.”
“Perhaps you shall.”
Lena let her smile become catlike as a plan began to formulate. She spoke under her breath, watching the alpha melt into the crowd. “Perhaps you shall, indeed.”
***
And by the time the clock was almost about to strike midnight, Lena had made up her mind entirely.
The ball guests gathered at the foot of the grand stairs, expecting the announcement. In typical overdramatic Luthor fashion, Lillian had even arranged for a priest, and a legal notary. The marriage would be sealed that very night. No doubt this show of force was intended to cow Lena, to force her to see that Lillian’s preferred matches were the only options available to her now.
But, as Lena made her way down to greet her mother at the foot, she had the faintest of smiles. She intended to turn this little display on its head, and demonstrate to her mother in a very Luthor fashion that she was not some heifer, to be led by the nose under the nearest bull. Oh no. Lena was a Luthor, and she would pick her own mate.
She just had to hope this particular mate would agree.
“Well my daughter?” Lillian’s voice rang expectant, loud enough to be heard well over the crowd. “Have you picked your mate? We are all waiting to hear if you’ve made the choice.”
The crowd swelled in agreement. In the front, several alphas jostled for position. Maxwell Lord was prominent, standing just enough away from Lockwood and Edge to distinguish himself. Even James Olsen was looking somewhat hopeful in the second row. But Lena’s eyes roamed, looking for a particular alpha. One with wheat-blonde hair.
There. Lena found her, standing near the back wall, looking about as uncomfortable at this display as Lena felt. Kara was looking at the exits, even, as if about to try to sidle away. Lena had to move with haste. She drew in a breath.
“Yes, mother. I’ve decided.”
All of the alphas in the room, even the married ones, appeared to be waiting on her next words with intensity. A hundred eyes, or more, stared back at Lena from every direction. She licked her lips, and tried to ignore her pounding heart.
“I’ve decided to choose…”
Maxwell looked directly at her, arrogance written large across his face. He made a lewd cup of his genitals in her direction, with clear intent. Lena narrowed her eyes at him, and swung out again into the crowd, looking for bright blue.
“ Kara Danvers.”
It seemed like the whole room was recoiling in confusion, but Lena heard Kara’s sudden breath as if it was right next to her ear.
“What? Me?”
And then the noise of the room rushed in again and Lillian began shouting at the top of her lungs.
***
It took at least twenty minutes to calm the commotion in the ball room that had started with Lena’s announcement. She was quite proud of that, really. One of her finer moments of being the Luthor Bad Seed.
Lillian was still fuming, albeit more quietly. “You can’t be serious.” She hissed, waving at Kara’s fidgeting form, brought under duress to the front. “Look at her. She’s a servant .”
“You told me to choose an alpha by midnight, and I have chosen.” Lena repeated, only a little smugly. “Shall we call the priest over or not?”
“Your mother is right.” Maxwell Lord had inserted himself into the conversation unwillingly—as was his talent. “Lena, come to your senses.” He cajoled her, reaching for her arm. “We’ve all had our flings with the lower classes. I can’t fault you for that. But a Luthor belongs with society.”
He looked back at Kara in plain disregard, and the alpha’s blue eyes narrowed at him.
“You agree, don’t you…..Danbers, was it? Lena belongs with her own kind.”
“Lena can make up her own mind.”
The sudden response was so impassioned in her defense that Lena was surprised it didn’t come from her own lips. She blinked at Kara over Lillian’s shoulder but the alpha wasn’t looking at her. Kara’s shoulders had squared, finally, and she was giving just the slightest rise of her lip to Lord’s challenging words. The wild, determined look to her face was sharply attractive.
“Oh pish.” Lord was unimpressed, plainly. He sneered down at Kara. “And I suppose you’re the progressive sort of alpha, the kind that lets the omega speak her mind .”
He scoffed, to show what he thought of that mindset. “You can’t possibly be the kind of alpha for an omega like Lena.”
“Maybe I’m not.” Kara looked back at Lena, for the briefest instant. The fire there was like a bolt of blue lightning down the base of her skull. “But then again, maybe I am.”
She swung around again and narrowed her eyes at Lord. “But you certainly aren’t, that’s for sure.”
“So this is what you want, then?” Lillian spoke, again, interrupting the quick twist of something like awe in Lena’s belly at the way Kara was looking at her, as well as Lord’s noises of outrage.
“Yes.” Lena said, looking at Kara.
The alpha hesitated for only a moment. Then she nodded, quickly, in return.
“You are a foolish, spiteful girl.” Lillian’s eyes were dark storm clouds. “And you shall reap what you sow. This is a mistake, and a grand one—mark my words.”
But even with her dark prophecy, she motioned the priest forward. “Come, Father. Teach this omega the meaning of her folly.”
With a nonplussed look to both parties, the priest began his approach, raising his palms. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here—“
***
After all of it, Lena had failed to realize how immediately they would be alone, together.
The service concluded, Lillian had whisked them into a carriage, past the shocked, staring eyes of the guests, and had sent them out of sight and away from further embarrassment to her status.
“To the house on Oxford Street.” She’d hissed to the driver, and Lena knew what that meant.
The townhouse at Oxford Street had not seen use since the days of her father, but still, the maids had kept it spotless. No doubt on the postmortem instructions of the Luthor patriarch, who had used this house as both his office and the base of his downtown affairs, of which Lena was the product. She had no doubt she had been conceived in one of these rooms, which was why she shied away from the master, and led Kara into the guest suite.
Lena was a child of means, and had never shared a room before. The carriage ride had been deadly quiet enough, but now the air was even thicker with tension as they each stood on either side of the wide, freshly-turned down bed, like a gulf between them. Kara refused to look at her, instead inspecting the pattern of the quilt as if trying to divine hieroglyphs.
Well, Lena wasn’t going to insist on decorum, even if Kara seemed inclined to. She sat down on her side of the bed, sighing heavily as she removed her earrings.
“Well, it was a lovely ceremony, at least.” She quipped, and Kara gave a start like a frightened rabbit, eyes rounding as Lena began to remove her shoes and roll up her dress to unsnap her stockings.
“Yes.” Kara croaked. “Are we going to—-uh—-share the bed?’
“We are married now, dear .” Lena reminded her, not too gently. She tracked how the alpha’s eyes had followed her stockings to the creamy skin of her upper thigh, and she felt the usual smooth flush of enjoyment at being wanted . “I’m no virgin, I’m afraid, but I shall protest like one if you’re interested in that.”
Kara’s eyes widened, and her throat bobbed. She took a step closer to Lena’s side of the bed, as if in a trance. “You—-what?”
Lena was normally a bit more patient, but the night had been long and her hormones were ready for the alpha to stop talking and just take her already.
“How do you want me?” Lena rolled on the bed, coquettishly looking at Kara’s rapidly reddening face over her shoulder as she raised her ass—a clear invitation. “I do know the traditional way is usually most alpha’s preference.”
Kara stared at her raised backside as if it were the Second Coming. She seemed both in awe and slightly terrified. Or, more than slightly.
“I—I—-“ The alpha’s jaw worked, but no sound came out.
Now Lena was beginning to be concerned. She dropped her hips, rolling to her back again to look at Kara from her elbows. “What’s wrong?”
“I—-“ Kara looked utterly panicked, despite the clear outline of a very thick erection in her pants. Her eyes swung wide, and then away from Lena. To the door.
“I can’t!”
The alpha cried out in something like desperation, and then she was gone.
Lena heard the sound of retreating footsteps, and then the other bedroom door rapidly opening and closing. She stared, open mouthed at the door, but after only a few moments it was clear to her that Kara was not coming back.
Groaning, she flopped back onto her quilt, and covered her eyes.
“This night has not gone well.”
***