Chapter Text
Stars.
Such a beautiful thing from far away, yet so deadly if humans were to come in contact with them. Even when considered a safe distance, the star that makes Earth beautiful can be fatal.
Great analogy for life, Vi thought to herself as she lay in the bed of her truck. Staring up at the dark sky, the twinkling of all the stars caught her eye.
Watching. That was all she had been capable of in her life. Just watching.
She watched as her mother died from cancer when she was fifteen. She watched as her adoptive father died in a car crash with her in it at seventeen. She watched as her sister died from the very same cancer that took their mother just two years ago.
In none of the situations was the young alpha able to help. Able to save them.
At night, she would dream. She dreamed of a world where she was capable of such acts—a world where she would still have everyone who she loved and who loved her.
Day after day, Vi watched life move on without her. Watched as the world progressed while she sat in her own pit of sadness, because what else was there to do?
Ekko, a good friend of hers, tried to get her out of the house and succeeded a handful of times. He was all Vi had of her family. The only reason she continued to push through the repetition and sad days.
She couldn't leave him. Not when he lost just as much as she.
A bright blue flash moved across the sky, pulling the alpha from her thoughts. It moved fast enough, and she pushed herself on her elbows, watching as it moved through the sky in a flash.
Taking a deep breath, Vi closed her eyes. A shooting star. Some luck may have been on her side after all. Maybe she could wish the pain away. Wish for her to forget the aching she felt all her life. Wishing for a brighter and happier future.
The alpha plopped back down on her back and stared up at the sky.
“I wish…” she started, but stopped herself. Saying the words aloud felt childish, the very idea of wishing on a star was silly, but it was all she had.
Her chest rose in a deep breath. “I wish I could find it again,” Vi said quietly.
Her eyes were watering. “I wish I could find the happiness I lost.”
She choked up. Her throat burned with upcoming tears. “Please…” she pleaded to no one in particular. “Please…” the sad alpha repeated.
“I can’t take it anymore…”
↞ ↞ ↞ ↞ ↞ ↠ ↠ ↠ ↠ ↠
Three days later
One.
Punch!
Two.
Punch!
Three.
Punch!
Vi threw three solid punches to the punching bag. The rattling of the chain holding the bag to the ceiling echoed through the empty gym. It was late at night. Vi was in charge of cleaning and closing up.
The gym once belonged to Vander, but Vi couldn't bring herself to run it even though it was left to her in his will.
During the reading of Vander’s final, Vi immediately rejected it. Saying it was dishonorable for her to take over something he had spent his entire life building. The young alpha never felt like she could take over and give the gym everything it needed. So she gave it to Ekko.
The beta was the wisest choice, better him than to sell to some stranger who wouldn't take pride in what the gym had done for the community.
Sweat beaded on Vi’s brow, dripping in her eye. Frustrated, she stomped away from the punching bag and to her gym bag, where she grabbed a small towel and wiped her face.
Throughout the alpha’s life, she had been deemed aggressive and sometimes even feral. It was in her nature, after all. Vander noticed and tried to help, urging her to burn out her energy in the gym.
Doing things like boxing, running, jump rope, sparring, and everything in between. It all helped. Helped ease her mind, making her feel more at peace.
Since Jinx had passed, Vi had a lot more aggressive energy to get out; however, using the outlet Vander created for her wasn't working. Nothing was working. No matter how hard she tried, how hard she begged the universe, every day when she woke up, there was this emptiness inside her.
There was always this pit in her heart that no matter what she did, she could never fill.
Sighing, Vi moved to sit on the ground, her back against the cool cement wall. She stared out into the dimly lit gym, wondering to herself. Was she always meant to be alone? Was that what the universe had in store for her? Loneliness and pain?
Vander - now Ekko’s gym was deep in the city. It was about an hour's drive from her house, which, in the past, the pink-haired alpha thought was the best thing in the world. It forced her to wake up early and get her day started before anyone else. Now she thought it was hell.
Her body was beaten and worn out; she had spent the entire day in the gym working out her frustration, and while her body ached, which should have been clear proof that she had worked everything out, her mind still wandered off into deep and dark thoughts.
She needed to get home. Needed to shower and rest. Tomorrow was Jinx’s birthday, and Vi promised herself she would go and visit her. No matter how much it hurt.
Her phone dinged, pulling her attention away from the room and her thoughts. Vi reached into her gym bag and pulled it out.
She cringed when she saw the time. It was two in the morning.
Ekko: Get out of my gym before I call the cops…
Before Vi could crack a smile, her phone dinged again.
Ekko: Seriously, though, you’ve been there all day. Go home and get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow.
Vi had told Ekko about how she wanted to go to Jinx’s grave, and he offered to go with her, but Vi knew herself. She knew she would try to be strong in front of him, and she wanted that tiny moment to do the very thing she had been stopping herself from doing.
Breaking down.
Vi: No need for cops, I'm heading out now…
Vi responded and threw her phone back in her bag.
Standing up, she gripped her bag and threw it over her shoulder. Driving home at this time of night would be exhausting, but she had no other choice.
Vi hated driving, even more so when she had to do it alone. It left her with her own thoughts, thoughts so deep that not even the loudest music could drown them out.
↞ ↞ ↞ ↞ ↞ ↠ ↠ ↠ ↠ ↠
Vi made it home within an hour; she was glad that there were no police on the back roads she took, because she was definitely speeding.
After a quick shower, Vi walked around her family home. Another thing given to her, but from her Mothers will. It was deep in the country, her neighbors about a thirty-minute walk away from her in each direction.
Her mother loved privacy, especially after Jinx was born, so their home was perfect for them.
The alpha stayed in her childhood bedroom, which was perfect for her. While it didn't have a conjoining bathroom like the master bedroom, she lived alone, so it wasn't like she was sharing the guest bathroom with anyone.
She walked past the room that was once Jinx’s, not even bothering to spare it a glance. In the two years Jinx has been dead, Vi has only stepped foot in her room twice. Once to grab the outfit she knew Jinx would want to be buried in, and the second time after the alpha got drunk and sad.
Vi had slept on the floor of Jinx’s room, an empty tequila bottle in hand. After waking up with a painful headache, Vi realized the dumb thing she had done and banned herself from her sister's room.
Heading to her own room, Vi slammed her door shut and jumped into her bed. Her body was sore and aching. However, it had no match for the pain in her heart.
Oh, so slowly the alpha’s eyes drifted close, slumber taking hold of her body and mind, which shocked her because for the past few months, sleep had seemed impossible for her.
Boom!!!
Startled, Vi jumped from her bed. She was unsure how long she had been asleep but that didn't matter to her, what did matter was what the fuck that loud crashing soudn was that came from outside.
Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her ears. Her body was trembling from being awakened so abruptly.
The alarm of Vi’s truck echoed outside her room. Scared, Vi got up from her bed and hurried to the backyard to figure out what the hell that sound was. If she were anyone else, she would have probably hidden and called someone, but Vi didn't think well under stress.
When the alpha opened the back door, she damn near fainted at the sight. Never in her twenty-three years of living had she seen something so… so…
“What the fuck?!” Vi panted. Looking up at a two-story-tall…ship…? In her backyard.
It looked like a fighter jet, but on cocaine. Hundreds of lights flickered around the dark ship. The land around the ship was blackened and burning from the crash? Landing? Vi was unsure what was actually happening. She didn't even know if what was happening was real or not.
She hadn't slept properly in forever, so the likelihood that she was just hallucinating from lack of sleep was high.
Vi froze in place, her hand in a stern grip on the knob. The alpha was unmoving. She practically had to force herself to take a breath.
There was no way.
There was no plausible reasoning for what was sitting in her backyard. The government was far too careful to let expensive military-grade planes fall from the sky.
A weird scent moved through the wind, making the alpha’s knees buckle. It was sweet… it was intoxicating. Vi couldn't help herself; she inhaled deeply, trying to take in more of the lovely scent. It was like nothing she had smelled before.
Even omegas on their heats didn't smell as enticing as the smell coming from… the ship?
Vi located the exact spot where the smell was coming.
With newfound strength, Vi let go of the doorknob and followed the scent, right to the door of the ship.
It was dumb, incredibly dumb. She should run away, call for help, but the alpha couldn't pull herself away. Couldn't make herself turn away from the tempting and delicious scent inside the ship.
Vi’s backyard was massive. The house was built on a few acres of land, and the ship took up a bit of it. Finally, she was only a few yards away. Just as she took another step, a hissing sound came from the ship's door.
Vi stopped dead in her tracks. The cool summer night wind that was just blowing stilled. The alpha’s mouth parted, her eyes locked on the open ship door.
Death.
She could probably die. Vi really didn't think anything though, yet the thought of running away like a coward angered her.
Standing up a bit straighter, Vi stared down the door, awaiting whatever was about to come face to face with her. If it was a military ship, she hoped like hell they didn't have a shoot first, ask questions later kind of situation.
Vi heard the sound of light steps on metal. Squinting her eyes, the alpha tried to look deeper into the ship. Before she knew it, a blue blur came rushing toward her.
Something strong and hard wrapped around the alpha’s neck, and then the force of the ground came into contact with her back. With her neck being clasped by the blue blur on top of her, Vi couldn't catch her breath.
Her hands were locked to her side. There was a band wrapped around her body that she had no clue where it came from.
“Ngh!” Vi tried to squirm from the forceful grip around her body.
There was something on top of her and she couldn't for the life of her see what the hell it was.
Slowly, a hand and arm appeared around Vi’s neck, the blue blur disappeared, and the shape of a body took form.
Vi gasped for air, the hand around her neck getting tighter and tighter as the body appeared. Within a few seconds, Vi was staring up at a blue-eyed, angry woman.
The woman snarled something at her, but Vi couldn't understand her. “Wh-what?” Vi sputtered. It was hard to speak. Her vision was starting to blur from lack of oxygen.
The woman’s top lip lifted, and Vi saw fangs grow in her mouth, her blue eyes glowing. She spoke again, but Vi was still lost on what was being said to her.
The alpha lifted her head; her nose finally caught a small breath, but it was filled with the delicious scent that had pulled her from her house. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The angry woman above her was… an omega!
But her scent was different. Stronger. Better!
The squeezing around the alpha’s throat got tighter, and Vi’s eyesight finally went black. Right before she fully blacked out, she heard the omega speak again.
“Fucking humans!!”