Chapter Text
Shane was sitting on a beach gazing into the horizon, it was a warm evening so it should have felt perfect. It might have actually been perfect had he not been talking to his mum on the phone.
"Have you been in touch with Martin recently?". Shane rolled his eyes, his mum hadn't stopped asking about Martin for weeks. They had been on a few dates and they went OK, but the truth was Shane didn't want to see him again. He didn't feel they had clicked. Martin was a friend of Hayden, one of his team mates. Hayden had thought they were perfect for each other, Martin was the same age as Shane and was sporty, importantly Martin was a beta male who was open to dating omegas. It wasn’t unusual these days for omega males to pair with betas, although some people were very vocal about it saying it was 'against nature', that omegas males should only be with alphas males. These voices were slowly being drownd out and society was slowly changing for the better.
To move the subject away from his love life Shane told his mum he was tired, All Star Games were always draining, all the socialising and the press interviews, being around so many people. He ended the call by promising his mum he would phone again when he got home the next day.
As soon as the call ended Shane let out a sigh and let go of the tension in his shoulders that he hadn't been aware of during the call. He was sure his mum didn't mean to annoy him by going on about Martin, he knew she just wanted him to be happy. Shane often found himself intimidated by alphas so dating a bata seemed the obvious choice, his mum was just trying to be supportive.
Shane hadn't always been intimidated by alphas, when he first presented as an omega it made sense as he already had a crush on an alpha at school who was two years ahead of him. Problems only started when he began more intense hockey training. Shane was always quiet and it became difficult being in the changing rooms with so many men all loud and confident. Shane was often mocked for silly things, like the way he folded his clothes when changing into his kit. He just liked to be neat but the guys made a thing of it. They laughed at him, the guy who laughed the loudest was Greg a six foot alpha who made Shane feel small and stupid.
If that had been all that had happened then maybe things would be different. But Greg had started being nice to him, but only when they were alone or if the changing room was quiet. He would whisper "are you OK?", or tell him not to worry about the 'banter' it was 'boys being boys'. With the little whispered words and the glances and smiles Shane started to think Greg liked him. Then one day he overheard some of the others talking about him, saying how pathetic he was. His heart broke when he heard Greg say he planned to ask Shane to go for a drive one night out to the woods. He was going to say they should go for a walk and as soon as they were out of sight of his truck he'd say he forgotten his phone, go back to the truck and drive off leaving Shane alone in the woods waiting for him. A few days later when the invitation came Shane said no, Greg actually looked annoyed that his plan wasn't working. Not long after that Shane had been spotted by a talent scout for the MHL, he hadn't seen Greg for years but the memories were still painful and he still didn't think he'd trust another alpha as long as he lived.
As much as Shane didn't like being around alphas he had no choice, he played on the same team as two alphas and there were plenty of other alphas in the league. But he still didn't like to think of it, an alpha getting too close to him, not in that way. Alphas were at there worst in rut, they could only think about mating, it was true Shane had never been near an alpha in full rut, but he'd been around enough guys in pre-rut to know to stay away from them. Shanes own father was a beta, as was his mum. It wasn’t that unusual for two beta parents to have an omega child, and society held no stigma against a male beta and a female beta being together.
Presenting as an omega in a beta household had felt lonely at times, if he had questions about being an omega he had no one to turn to. At school his friends all presented as alphas or betas, sure there were other omegas in his school year but he wasn't friends with them. All the information he received came from some booklets his doctor gave him when he presented as an omega giving advice on how to manage his heat cycle and his scent. Most alphas and omegas take suppressants to regulate there cycle and minimise there scent, but as hockey players they needed slightly stronger ones else things could get intense on the ice. As Shane's suppressants were strong, even for an athlete, he had to take separate suppressants 12 hours apart, one for his heat cycle and one for his scent.
With the changes to his normal routine caused by the All Star Games Shane had forgotten to take his scent suppressant for two days. He hadn’t even realised he'd missed the first one, it was only after he'd missed the second tablet that he realised what he'd done. He'd begun to panic and had looked online to see what he should do, he was too scared to call his doctor or the team medic as he didn't want to get a reputation as a 'problem omega' who couldn’t be trusted to take his meds.
The advice online was clear, stay away from alphas in rut or pre-rut and wear patches over his scent glands. Thankfully Shane always carried patches for emergencies and these days the patches were thin and clear so they weren't easy to spot so no one had mentioned them. The only problem was the longer you wore them the more scent seeped out, they helped but they weren't perfect.
Tonight was the last night at the hotel, all he had to do now was go back inside, go up to his room, finish his packing and get a good night's sleep. Oh and most importantly he needed to take tonights scent suppressant. He had one last look at the view and headded back across the beach to the hotel.
The hotel lobby seemed busier and louder than usual, it was really warm as well. Shane hit the button to call the lift, when the lift finally arrived he stepped inside and pressed the button for his floor. The doors had already started to close when a hand reached inside, the doors opened again and in stepped Ilya Rozanov. An alpha. Ilya didn't even look at him as stepped forward to press the button for his floor. They had both joined the MHL at the same time and both were considered top players, Ilya got more attention, he was an alpha after all. Ilya had a reputation for being less aggressive on the ice than most alphas, cool and collected. He also happened to be tall and undeniably handsome, though Shane would never have admitted that to anyone.
The doors closed and the lift started it's assent. Shane didn't know why but his cheeks stated to burn, he knew he was going red. He took a deep breath to steady himself but to his horror he could smell honey, it was his scent. Shane looked over at Ilya who was looking at him sniffing the air, "I skipped a scent suppressant it's no big deal, it's not my heat". Ilya looked at him for a moment, he nodded and said "ok".
The lift came to a halt but Shane stood still frozen in the moment. "Hollander is your floor". Shane didn't move, he was gripped by panic. "Hollander you need to get back to room". When Shane didn't move Ilya said something in Russian, and grabbed him by the arm leading him out of the lift "which room Hollander?". Shane walked to his door and took his key card out of his pocket, he tried to open the door but he couldn't do it. Ilya took the card off him, he opened the door and then shoved him inside.
Shane wanted to protest, Ilya should not be in his room, he shouldn't even be on this floor. When travelling for a game omegas and alphas had to have there own separate floors away from each other and away from betas. It was MHL rules, anyone caught in on the wrong floor could face a fine or a suspension.
Shane couldn't think straight, he had an alpha in his room and he didn't know what was going to happen next. He certainly didn't expect ilya to ask in a clear and calm voice "when is next suppressant". Shane mumbled "now, any time now", "You should take".
On shaky legs Shane walked over to his bed, the suppressants were on his nightstand. He swolled the tablet, when he turned around he saw that ilya had not moved, he just stood there looking at Shane. "You should shower, wash off scent". Shane nodded it was a good idea, but Ilya was standing next to the bathroom door. Shane waited for him to move but he didn't, he just pointed at the bathroom "shower is in here". Shane glared at him, "I know that". Shane was surprised his tone was so aggressive, Ilya just smiled. From somewhere he found the strength to walk across the room and went into the bathroom locking the door behind him.
He put the shower on and stripped as the water warmed up. As he stepped under the water he thought of ilya. In their first year on the ice they had been in a commercial together, it was about how the MHL was now working to promote alpha and omega players. After the filming they had been in the changing room together, Shane couldn't take his eyes off Ilyas muscular body. Ilya had said he was going in the shower, it was a normal part of hockey to shower together, but he just couldn't do it. Shane ended up just splashing water on his face at the sink trying to calm himself while Ilya strode naked into the shower. Shane dressed as quickly as he could then ran away, literally ran away.
Bringing his attention back to the present moment Shane washed himself quickly then turned the water temperature to cold. He stood there for as long as he could tolerate the icy cold water then stepped out to dry himself. He was still a little damp when he put on a robe and stepped back into the bedroom.
He froze on the spot, ilya was still in his room.