The Blaze Within

One

She woke up drenched in sweat. It wasn't the first occurrence, especially since her suppressants had worn off over a month ago and she had nowhere to get more. Being out in space had its disadvantages. She knew it was coming. Her heat was scheduled to start back up soon, and now she was in preheat. For someone who didn't want others to know she was an omega, she was dreading this day.

Lana pulled herself out of bed finally, after convincing herself that she shouldn't lie in bed anymore, and pulled the sheets up so her bed looked made. The dark blue blanket was next and she stuffed it under her pillow. She reached on the floor beside the bed and grabbed her orange translucent tablet and set it on the bed while she made her way to her  closet to change out of the blue Alteans robes that she always loved to wear. She pulled on her blue jeans and a bra before pulling her white and blue baseball t-shirt over her exposed torso.

Once that was done, she slipped on a pair of socks and her usual shoes before grabbing the tablet and her usual green denim jacket, stuffing her tablet in the inside pocket, and ran a comb through her short hair.

Today, she'd have to come out as an omega, especially since she wouldn't be able to hide it anymore. Omega's had a specific scent about them, and Lana was no different. Granted, she had absolutely no idea what she smelled like.

With a heavy sigh, Lana made her way to the dining area for breakfast. She ignored the looks she was getting as she sat down, especially ignoring a certain alpha with dark hair and violet eyes, who she happened to be sitting next to.

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As Lana entered the dining room, she certainly turned a few heads. Three to be exact. Three of the only alphas on the ship. Something was different about Lana, something that made Keith actually want to pay attention to her. The inexperienced alpha couldn't help but smell her.

Vanilla, seafoam, and one other scent. Now, he couldn't quite put his finger on what the other scent was. It was definitely something sweet, but what was it? He made the mistake of pressing his nose right to her scent gland just to get a whiff.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, mullet!?" Lana pushed him away from her, "did you seriously just scent me?!"

Keith sputtered slightly, upon realizing his mistake. And suddenly he realized "you're an omega!"

Lana froze, shit, she had completely forgotten that she wasn't on suppressants anymore. "Yeah. Ya think?" She hadn't  exactly pictured her coming out as an omega to be quite so... well anything like this, to be exact. In fact, she had wanted to be the one to tell people. Not Keith.

"I kind of figured..." it was Shiro who spoke, "no offense, but you were kind of obvious... especially when you came to me asking why Keith was avoiding you. No normal beta would have asked that."

"What about one who cared about her teammates?" Lana had tried to interject.

"I just smelled you! There's no way you're a beta!" Keith scoffed.

"And, I'd like to forget that, thank you very much! So shut your quiznak!"

"I still don't think you're using that word correctly!"

"Lana! Keith! Knock it off you two!" Shiro walked over and stood between them, then with a sigh he put his hand on Keith's shoulder, "Keith, scenting an omega who is not your mate, is not socially acceptable. You should probably apologize to Lana."

"Apolo- Shiro... you've gotta be kidding me!"

"No, I am not. Apologize to Lana."

"Why the hell should I apologize? She's the one who was lying to everybody by saying she was a beta."