SKYE.5

Soren was in his favorite spot, smoking a cigarette when I approached the college building. He looked pretty laid-back, leaning against the wall, with his hair braided into a fishtail that started just over his forehead and trailed down to the middle of his back. His fingernails were painted navy-blue, with silver swirls enameled across them. He had more earrings than usual, some long and twisting like silver snakes. He looked like a tempting work of art, which definitely wasn't helping my current situation.

I walked up to him and, on an impulse, lit a cigarette too, trying to keep my chaotic thoughts at bay. We smoked in silence for a while, and just being near Soren had a calming, soothing effect on me. I stared at the rain, the gray smoke, and Soren's gray eyes peeking through it, fixed on my face.

He had a thin, black line of eyeliner around his eyes.

"You're beautiful as always," I mumbled, brushing my hand against one of his long earrings.

He didn't answer; his eyes stayed fixed on my face as he continued to blow smoke in my direction.

Feeling this strange need, I leaned in a bit and whispered, still staring at him, "You know, your eyes always reflect the stormy sky."

Soren blinked—he seemed a little dazed by my comment for a moment. Some thought flickered across his face, and he whispered back, almost obliviously, "My eyes… would wish to always reflect the sunny Skye."

Wait, was that ‘Skye' with an 'e'? It was impossible to tell from the way he said it.

Then he blinked again, snapping out of it, and cleared his throat, quickly redirecting his gaze toward the college building. The strange moment passed, and Soren just furrowed his brows, taking a deeper drag.

Right then, I heard footsteps. A group of students was heading toward the buildings, holding bags over their heads to protect themselves from the rain. Unfortunately, one of them was Don.

At first, I didn't think he noticed us, too busy shielding his head from the downpour, but as they got closer to the entrance, he turned his face toward us, and his eyes widened slightly.

A wave of satisfaction hit me when I saw the bruises on his face, under his eye and around his mouth… I gave him a hateful grin.

Don didn't approach Soren or say hello. He just turned his head and walked into the building. I glanced at Soren, but stayed silent.

Soren observed me for a few seconds, his head slightly tilted. "Was it you?"

"Yeah." I snorted. "Sorry, I didn't listen. But that was too much to ask of me, Soren. And I didn't say a word. I just told him that he knew what it was for."

Soren stayed quiet.

He took another deep drag on his cigarette, looked up at the sky, and didn't comment on what had happened. We stood there a little longer, finishing our smokes, then headed to our classes.

It seemed like Soren had just accepted it, maybe he felt some kind of satisfaction deep down? But I didn't dwell on it, not wanting to overthink things.

Later that day, when we were sitting in the cafeteria, Sean walked over to us.

He tried to bring up Don, who apparently hadn't let him in on the whole situation, perhaps because he was afraid Sean wouldn't be as forgiving as Alvin.

Honestly, I didn't fully understand why Soren didn't want to tell Sean what happened. I knew he didn't wish to be seen as a victim, but why he kept it secret from Sean specifically wasn't clear to me. I realized, though, that trying to understand the reasons and motivations of someone who's been through such a traumatic experience might not be possible—this wasn't a logical thing. When emotions are involved, things don't always make sense, but they're still valid.

Soren brushed Sean off, who just watched us with a thoughtful expression. While we were sitting in the cafeteria, our knees were touching, and I focused mainly on that, trying to ignore the growing sense of unease I felt, like something bad was going to happen.

For the next few days, Don avoided Soren completely, finally leaving him alone. We kept working on the Python exercises, and during his recovery, our sexual activities were limited to just one blowjob daily that I gave him. I nearly ended up with blue balls, but I knew being patient was what he expected from me in this situation.

The following weekend, Soren's health improved a lot—he even went for a short jog. He told me the bleeding had completely stopped, and he was feeling much better. We stayed in the dorm for the weekend, even though I was really tempted to go on a trip to a nearby spot on a picturesque hill, just a few miles from campus. But I didn't want to push him too hard with the climb. When I mentioned it, he just gave me a pretty indifferent look, like it wasn't a big deal—a trip with me that could be interpreted as a date. He just said, "Maybe next weekend."

Throughout the week, things with Alvin also stabilized a bit. We didn't talk about Don at all, just exchanged the occasional small talk on random topics—I'd call it a truce. I noticed that both Sean and Don kept their firm distance from us. Sean would sometimes come over and chat with Soren, but their friendship had noticeably cooled off as mine with Soren got closer.

By the start of the next week, we were back to more intense sexual activities too.

Finally, on Monday, Soren agreed to let me caress his entrance with my mouth for a longer period of time. I was really eager to do this because I knew that Soren was very sensitive in this area. When I got down to it, I discovered that I could bring him to orgasm just by licking and massaging this spot with my tongue, without even touching his dick. This was quite unusual as this part of the body was known to be the most sensitive in omegas. For betas and alphas, it was not much different from any other part, but in Soren's case, it almost seemed like most of his skin was one big erogenous zone!

He just loved being touched.

During that week, we were able to spend up to two hours in bed at times, and I satisfied him in every way possible, giving him orgasms through nipple stimulation, blowjobs, and licking his entrance. Soren was truly insatiable, sometimes lying on the bed, completely under my sexual control, moaning with his eyes closed, begging, "More, Skye, please, I need more, more…" And I did not refuse him, never.

Eventually, the next weekend came around, and we went on the planned hike together. That's when Soren's behavior took a bit of a step back, like something was weighing on his conscience.

The trail to the mountaintop was really scenic, with a great panoramic view of the city. We passed by a lot of people, including couples holding hands. At one point, I got the courage to take his hand. We had just stopped for a short break to drink some water from the bottles I'd packed. When Soren handed the bottle back to me, and we were getting ready to start climbing again, a couple walked by—an alpha embracing a beta. It was a rare sight, but it encouraged me to try my luck too.

As we went back on the trail, I shyly reached out and took his slender hand. I could see him tense up immediately, his jaw clenched, and he turned his head toward the forest. We walked like that for a few minutes—him really stiff and seemingly unhappy the whole time. He didn't pull his hand away, but I knew he was extremely uncomfortable. So, at the first opportunity, when we got to a spot with a great overlook of the campus below, I pretended to take my phone out to snap a picture and let go of his hand—I could see he was relieved. I didn't try it again after that. It was clear that ‘hand-holding' was way too deep into boyfriend territory for Soren, so I decided to respect it. Patience, I had to be patient.

We finally reached the top. Soren was a bit winded and occasionally coughed—smoking wasn't doing his lungs any favors, let alone his stamina. For a while, we just admired the wide panoramic view of the city. I took out my phone and asked, "Can we take a selfie?"

Soren blinked and nodded hesitantly. In the selfie, he looked so gloomy that I figured the only way to change his expression was to get someone else to take the picture—maybe then Soren would at least put on a friendly face.

I asked a lone beta nearby, who was photographing the city with a professional camera, if he could take a pic of us. He agreed with a slight smile. He took a shot with my phone first, but as soon as I looked at it, I saw Soren's expression—nope, still pretty sour, like he wasn't happy to be here at all.

The guy glanced at me and noticed my concerned look.

"Hey, what if I took a few shots with my camera? You guys look like a real… model couple. I'm Josh, by the way."

"Hey Josh, I'm Skye, and this is Soren. I'm fine with that, it'd be nice of you. Soren, are you okay with it?" I asked, noticing Soren's skeptical expression. But he just shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

Josh took a few shots of us against the cityscape, occasionally glancing at the results on his camera's screen, still with that slightly amused look on his face. Then he asked if we'd like to move over to a small cluster of rocks that appeared pretty picturesque, with some light purple moss growing on them—we agreed, though Soren still looked a bit grumpy.

The session lasted a bit longer there, and eventually, Soren started to loosen up and pose with more enthusiasm. At one point, as we were getting ready for another photo, I came up with an idea. When Josh raised the camera, I leaned in slightly and pressed my lips to Soren's neck.

"Oh wow, that's a hot shot!" Josh said enthusiastically, walking over to show us the result. The picture actually turned out pretty well—it was a close-up of our faces, my lips on his pale skin, Soren's head tilted back slightly, eyes half-closed. It looked really sensual.

Soren reddened a bit, but he seemed to like the photo too. So we took a few more in a similar style. At one point, while Josh was snapping a series of shots, I let my lips graze Soren's just for a split second, barely touching the surface. I instantly felt him stiffen up—he suddenly straightened and stepped back.

"Alright, I think we can wrap up the session," he said, his voice a bit gruff.

Josh nodded. "Sure, whatever works for you guys. Give me your contact info, and I'll send you the pictures once I've worked on them a bit."

"Thanks a lot, Josh, that was a great idea. Here's my Instagram profile, DM me."

"Okay, it was a pleasure."

After thanking and saying goodbye to Josh, the atmosphere remained somewhat tense. I could tell that this outing had crossed too far out of the comfort zone for Soren. I tried to keep the conversation going as we hiked back down, but he mostly responded with monosyllables. He didn't mention the kiss—or almost-kiss—but I could tell I shouldn't have done it because it threw him off somehow.

Unfortunately, the next week was marked by Soren being in a bit of a bad mood—constantly, but we still saw each other every day. In one way, nothing changed—we still had our sexual sessions; Soren didn't seem to want to give that up, even though he was a bit sour and rather quiet.

I didn't suggest anything for the next weekend, at least not any outdoor plans. Instead, I asked if he might want to listen to me play the violin. He made a weird face and hesitated—was that AGAIN too much in the boyfriend territory for him?

In the end, though, he slowly nodded without much enthusiasm.

So, on Saturday, I grabbed my violin, earning a quizzical look from Alvin and a raised eyebrow from Archer. They had long given up on commenting about my constant hanging out with Soren and spending so much time with him. And we were together from morning to night! Sometimes we even worked in his room, each on our own laptop. It was quiet, sure, but… being in his presence was enough for me, like I needed it to breathe.

So, I headed to Soren's now very familiar room, and the moment I stepped in, I could feel his nerves almost filling the space. He was acting stiff, sitting on the corner of his bed, and it made me nervous too.

"You know, I'm not as good as I used to be," I added, trying to explain myself. "Ever since my brother Storm broke the fingers on my left hand, things don't always go the way they should."

Soren raised his eyebrows slightly. "Why did he do that?"

"Oh, you know, I had the illusion I could take on a purple alpha, especially when I got really pissed off." I chuckled.

"You must've been really pissed."

"You could say that. He slept with my ex."

Soren's eyes widened, and for the first time in a week, I saw a bit of a change in him, a slight relaxation. "Seriously? That's a low blow."

"Yeah. David and I broke up at the end of high school. We knew we were heading to different colleges, so it didn't make sense to stay together. But Storm, who was a sophomore at the time, ran into David at the mall, and after some flirting… well, he slept with him a week later."

Soren muttered a curse under his breath. "So, I take it your relationship with Storm hasn't been great for some time. That kind of thing doesn't happen without a long history."

"Oh, definitely. Rain and I were always somehow ending up at odds with him, but he was able to fight off us both. So, I guess he got his revenge on me that way. I couldn't just let it slide; it was a matter of honor. I was so angry that I actually managed to land a few punches, but he's a purple alpha—those bastards weigh twice as much as normal people. When Storm finally had enough of my pathetic punches, he twisted my arm, and I just heard a crack. Two of my fingers were only good for a cast after that."

I waved my hand around a bit, and I could still feel some stiffness in the joints, even though it had been almost four years.

"When I was a kid, before my dad's accident, he taught me a bit of violin. Not much, literally ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' level. But after he became disabled, I never picked it up again. So I'm pretty sure I won't even notice any imperfections."

I sighed quietly and took the violin out of its case. "I'm kind of counting on that." My smile was rather bitter.

Even though I had warmed up a bit in my room, my nerves were still getting to me. Soren was watching me from under his eyelashes, and I hesitated.

"You know, we used to play a lot of music at home. We had these jam sessions. I often performed duets with Rain. He'd be on the banjo, and I'd be on the violin. This was one of the songs." My hands were shaking as I raised the bow. "Maybe you'll recognize it—it's a violin cover of a popular song from a thousand years ago."

Soren stayed silent, his lips pressed tightly together like he was in pain, and he was oddly hunched over.

I started playing slowly. The beginning was a bit unusual, but soon the melody became recognizable. I noticed Soren's face show a hint of confusion, and he turned his gaze away from my fingers, which, surprisingly enough, were moving quite well across the strings today.

But I didn't look away. I kept my eyes on him.

The song was "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley.

The lyrics were so meaningful that it felt like a confession, one that shouldn't happen between us—one that I knew Soren didn't want, but… I still wanted to play it.

When I finished, I saw that his fingers were clenched so tightly, his knuckles went white.

"I can sing it too, but I won't because I don't want to make you cringe. Out of all of us, Sun, Snow, and Bay had the best voices anyway. Mine is just mediocre."

And I slowly put the violin down, unsure of what to do next, wondering if I was about to get chewed out, but Soren stayed silent. Finally, he cleared his throat and forced out, "You play pretty well. It's an unusual combo—music and programming."

It sounded like a very official and carefully chosen compliment. He clearly didn't want to touch on the lyrics or why I picked that song.

"It's common in my family. Three of us are programmers. Actually, I guess it's four, counting my current boss, my cousin Nathaniel, who was raised with us after his parents died in an accident."

"And the rest are musicians?"

"Only Snow and Bay are officially trained in music. Snow teaches piano, guitar, and bass. He also studied composition, but he's too shy to make a career out of it. He's a bit of an oddball, still living with our parents even though he's over thirty. My other brother, Bay, is also a teacher, but he's more of a local artist. He performs at events and posts his stuff online, making good money from ads. He sings, writes songs, plays piano, guitar, bass, drums, and cello. He posts various interpretations of popular songs on his channel and has a high number of subscribers, which gives him a nice income. As for the rest of us, we all play a bit, but none of us do it professionally. We're not sure what career the youngest, Sun, will choose. He's pretty good on the harp, he sings and likes the ukulele, but I'm not sure if that's what he wants to do for a living. I think he'd rather be a model."

Soren thought for a moment. "And what does the purple alpha do? Storm?"

"My charming brother, Storm, worked as a matchmaker at a matchmaking agency that handles marital contracts auctions and fairs. He studied law and psychology, was set for a career, but preferred working at the agency. He claims he has a gift for pairing people up. But that's in the past. After his legal troubles, they fired him, and now he supposedly has this weird job. I don't even bother asking what he exactly does. Some shady company that specializes in consensual assaults… you know, with people's own pre-planned scenarios. Typical Storm stupidity."

Soren's face was pensive. "You mentioned Rain a few times. Were you two always close?"

"Yeah, he, Nathaniel, and I stuck together. Though Nate somehow managed to get along with Storm too, the only one in our family who did. He always knew how to deal with him. But even so, Storm never hit him. Probably figured there was no point in kicking someone while they're down."

"I don't understand."

"Nathaniel practically lost half his face in the accident. The fire took his sight in one eye, he lost his left ear, and hair there, and even after skin grafts, it's not pretty—kind of like Frankenstein. He founded a company, MonsterApp, which is where me and Rain work, and he's totally devoted to it. I doubt he thinks any omega would accept him. Storm saw how much he was suffering and… I guess he just didn't want to make it worse. He was always strangely protective of Nate."

Soren nodded slowly, rubbing his chin like he was deep in thought. I was kinda surprised he asked so much about my family; he seemed to be brooding over the topic.

"Play some more, Skye," he finally muttered, and I gasped in surprise.

But I picked up my violin and began to play some classical solo pieces for the instrument, this time no longer opting for… unspoken confessions woven secretly into the melodies.

Soren sat, staring out the window, his face contemplative the whole time, almost absent-minded, and perhaps a little sad. Every minute I played, he seemed more and more depressed. I even had the impression he was about to cry!

At one point, he clenched his teeth and grabbed the edge of his T-shirt, pulling it up and throwing it off. I froze, interrupting the play.

He pulled down his pants and underwear and lay down on the bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.

"I want to come," he said quietly, his lips tightening. It all looked a bit desperate, as if he wanted to kill some unpleasant thoughts with sex and pleasure.

But seeing him naked made my heart beat faster, and I didn't care anymore about the strange mood. His beautiful, slender body was now splayed before me, waiting for me, offering itself to me. I looked hungrily at his flat belly, the sexy hollow spot between his hip bones, and his smooth crotch. Soren was always perfectly shaved; he must have spent a lot of time on it because, as a brunet, he had black pubic hair, but everything there looked impeccably groomed. I looked at his feet, which were narrow and slender, and his thighs and calves, decorated with a tattoo line of barbed wire, going all the way up to his ankle, where it wrapped around.

It always worked on me, no matter how many times he undressed in front of me, it automatically quickened my pulse.

I got up and walked over to the bed. When I sat down, his body rocked slightly as the mattress flexed. His dick was rapidly gaining volume, almost right before my eyes; it was a fascinating sight. I slowly leaned over him, supporting my hands on the sides of his head. Whenever I did this, he always averted his gaze, but for some reason, this time, for a moment, his eyes were staring at me, my face directly over his.

"Soren—"

"No, don't say anything. I don't want to talk."

Something came to mind. "Can I rub over you?"

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Can I rub my dick over your… crease, down there?"

He stared at me for a moment, probably understanding that if we did it this way, it would almost look like we were having real intercourse.

"Okay," he murmured quietly.

"Squeeze your thighs tight," I whispered.

As he did so, I angled my already stiff member, pointing it down, pressing it between his clenched thighs. I felt it slide over his taint, my pre-cum making it more slippery. His breathing sped up as I began to move, his stiff dick rubbing against my lower abdomen.

"God, I want you so much," I mumbled, realizing today I would be the one who would come sooner. The new sensation overwhelmed me just a tad too much. My full weight was pressing him into the bed, my movements quite frantic, causing him to slide up lightly on the sheets toward the head of the bed.

And my arousal grew rapidly. Grunting, I came between his tightly squeezed thighs, but I was not going to leave him without release. So, as soon as I caught my breath, I leaned over and took his cock in my mouth. I made maybe four moves, taking him deep into my throat as he moaned and came—a true record. Did he enjoy my not-so-gentle pinning him to the bedsheets? I licked his dick thoroughly and lifted my gaze to his reddened face.

I hesitated. "You seem very… hmm. You have no problems orgasming quickly; it seems so easy for you. I didn't know betas could have such a libido," I admitted.

Soren lay there for a moment, catching his breath, staring at the ceiling, his face unreadable.

I rested my head on his shoulder, and then he murmured, "I haven't had this kind of libido before. It's not like I've avoided sex, but in the last year, after I broke up with Anton, I haven't had any strong urges. Celibacy wasn't a problem for me… now something's changed."

"What?"

"I don't know," he muttered, and the tone of his voice made it clear he didn't want to get into it.

With a rather quick movement, he slid out from under me and began pulling on his clothes. I knew I shouldn't push it.

I'd learned to steer clear of sensitive topics with Soren—unfortunately, sometimes even the smallest thing could set him off.