Resistance

Chapter 12

The family portrait on Erwin's desk always reminded me of how cruel and ruthless the humans were toward our kind. In it, he stood next to his wife while their two children lay in the grass in front of them. They were all smiling. A happy family that would soon be torn apart by people who thought them monsters, things that should've never been born. Human soldiers raided his house while he'd been at work one Monday morning. When he came home, expecting to sit down with his family for dinner, he found them dead in the kitchen instead. They were slaughtered in cold blood, although they had put up no resistance.

His daughters, Justine and McKenna, had only been eight and ten. They never stood a chance against the men that broke into their home, yet they both took a bullet to the back of the head simply for being betas. That's all the humans saw when they looked at those two girls: someone who could give birth to more unwanted creatures that would let their instincts guide them.

How could Erwin look at this picture of them every day? Did seeing their smiling faces encourage him to avenge their deaths? Did it fuel him to continue to fight in this war that had never been in our favor?

My attention was drawn elsewhere when the door to his office swung open. He stepped into the room and gave me a quick glance before he returned his gaze to the paper he held. He walked to his desk and asked, "Do you know why I asked you here today?"

"Not a clue," I admitted.

He took a seat and then handed the paper to me. "We discussed this matter the day before Eren arrived here, so it doesn't surprise me that you've forgotten about it." When I peered down at the paper he'd given me, he said, "Those are the names of the new recruits that will be watching over your training sessions for the next couple of weeks. They arrived this morning. They're currently receiving a tour of the grounds. The reason I wanted to meet with you on such short notice is because it's imperative that you're on your best behavior today."

It was true that I'd forgotten all about this. After Eren entered my life, all my thoughts revolved around him in some way. Even now, as I held this paper filled with names of people who were ready to put their lives at stake for the residents here at the sanctuary, I was thinking about my alpha. I could taste him on my tongue, smell him on my skin. It was distracting, which is how I knew why Erwin had gone out of his way to see me before training began. A lot of new recruits joined because of me, the omega that defied all logic. I couldn't deviate from that image—now more than ever.

"I'll behave like I always do," I said, scanning over the names. None of them caught my attention. Just another bundle of people that were eager to fight, or provide for their kind. It was rare that you found people who wanted to do both.

Erwin cracked a grin. "Normally you don't reek of alpha."

I bared my teeth at him, angry in spite of myself. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your reputation precedes you, Levi. You're known as the omega that has never submitted to an alpha. The only omega that can stand face to face with one and not cower to his instincts."

"And you think that's changed?" I said through clenched teeth. "If you think I'll submit to any alpha other than Eren, you're wrong. He's the only one."

"That may be true, but these new recruits won't see it that way. Especially with how you smell right now. If one of them catches sight of your neck, what conclusion do you think they'll come to?"

"What do you expect me to do about that?"

Erwin opened the top drawer of his desk and took something out of it. He placed a round bar of soap on top of a stack of papers. "To begin with, I want you to wash Eren's scent off."