Nobody

            Sometimes, you can be everything that a person wants and needs, and still not be good enough for them.  And I swear to you, nothing is more heartbreaking than hearing that the one you love most is promised to someone else.  Nothing.  Especially since you’ve loved them since you could first remember.  Perhaps since you were a toddler.  Maybe since childhood.  But for sure, by the time you were a teenager, you knew you held a torch for them. 

            I remember visiting the neighboring pack, the summer I was sixteen.  It wasn’t the first time I’d been there, but it was the first time I’d been there for a couple years and I’d grown so much since I’d been there last.  I’d started hunting with the other alphas in the pack, I’d begun to guard the territory lines, and I’d even begun to notice omegas. 

            My uncle, Sooman, was the pack leader and often brought me along with.  I’d been adopted by him, after my father had passed away in a skirmish when I was five.  My mother had died giving birth to me and I never knew her.  Sooman had raised me as one of his sons, along with my cousins, Leeteuk, Heechul, and Yesung.  All my cousins were several years older than me and liked to think they were more mature, although I felt that was up for debate.  Leeteuk was a little more mature than the others, as he’d recently mated to a beautiful omega from our pack named Sora and she was already a couple months along with their first litter.  They remained at the den while we left to visit the neighboring pack.

            The leader nodded, greeting us.  “Welcome back, Sooman!” he warmly exclaimed, hugging my uncle.  “It has been far too long since you’ve come to see me!”

            The two men wrapped their arms around each other and headed into the banquet hall, where I wanted to be.  I cared little about formal ceremonies aside from the piles of decadent food there was to eat and I was starved after our long trek.  I quickly rushed over to the tables, as soon as I could politely excuse myself, and began filling my plate full of the little fruit pastries I remember liking so much.  I thought my guard, Kangin, had followed me over and asked, “These are my favorites.  What the hell are they called again?”

            “That’s a raspberry-almond tart,” came my answer, from across the table.  “Although they’re meant to feed the whole assembly, not just you.  No wonder you’ve gotten so big since I’ve last seen you.”

            I didn’t recognize him immediately.  I stood there, staring at the omega for nearly a minute, trying to remember who he was.  The voice sounded familiar enough, but the stunning omega standing there, grabbing little handfuls of fruit and vegetables, did not look like anyone I could remember.

            “Ryeowook, quit being rude to our guests,” an older woman lectured.  I recognized her immediately as the governess of the pack leader’s children.  I looked again at the omega.  It couldn’t be Ryeowook!  The last time I’d seen him, he was chubby and short.  Well, he was still pretty short, but now he was slim and attractive as well.  It was the desired look that most omegas dreamed of and few managed.  He was breathtaking and I found myself speechless.

            Ryeowook smirked and suddenly, I found my voice again.  I reached across the table and set one of the tarts on his plate.  “Here.  It looks like they quit feeding you.  You’ve become short and scrawny since I was here last.  You need this more than me.”

            Ryeowook’s eyes turned into daggers.  “Is that why you can’t quit staring?” he asked.  “You’re worried that I’m withering away?  And here I thought it was my good looks.”

            “Worried?  You think I’m worried?” I asked, continuing down the line of the table.  “You seem to keep your brothers in line well enough to do your bidding for you.  I doubt you’ll succumb to anything serious.  Although I’d hate to be nagged by you on a daily basis as they are.  I’d rather be deaf than listen to that high-pitched voice of yours ing at me every day.”

            “I always thank the lord, in my nightly prayers, that you’re not one of my brothers.  If we were related, I would lock myself in a tower and starve myself to death.”

            I pointed at him.  “Did you start already?”

            Ryeowook threw a roll at me, hitting me in the face, and I picked it up and started eating it. 

            “It’s bad enough that your cousin is marrying my older brother,” Ryeowook complained.

            I nodded.  “It does make us relations.  I’ll be your cousin, by marriage, I think.”

            Ryeowook wrinkled his nose, as if the thought of that actually smelled as revolting as it sounded.  “I don’t know why my brother is going along with this!”

            “I was under the impression that Siwon actually had feelings for Heechul,” I quietly said, glancing across the banquet hall as Siwon greeted his fiancé for the first time in a couple years.  Ryeowook’s pack had strict rules about not touching omegas—once they were ually mature—but this rule seemed not to apply if you were engaged because Siwon hugged Heechul