Becoming the Luna

Dream wakes up with a frown, sleeping at night had been a literal nightmare, the events of the entire day replaying unwarranted in his head and keeping him from falling asleep until it was quite late.

"Finally, you're awake." Deidre pokes her head in, fully dressed. "I was about to get a bucket of water."

"What?" He blinks, surprised. "You tried waking me up?"

"Yeah, mom and I are already heading out, it's almost time to open and breakfast is on the table, just meet us up there."

"Sure." He mutters absently, falling on the bed on his back with his hands splayed out.

Dale was annoying not just in real life apparently but also as a figment of his imagination, it would have been bearable if he could get him out of his head.

"Ugh!" He groans, throwing off his covers and sitting up.

Maybe he should buy a life-sized stuffed wolf, preferably black colored so he could stick a sticky note on it that says Dale and whack it every morning with a metal bat.

There was no logical reason why Dale brought out the vicious in him but he decided that he doesn't like it, setting the shower to cool just to distract himself.

Bad idea! He screams mentally, quickly switching on the heater. How do people clear their heads with cold water? It sounded horrifying.

After dressing up, the rest of the unwanted thoughts in his head had long cleared up, making way for more important thoughts like the new designs he had for cupcakes.

He makes sure to lock up carefully, squirrels were cute but only when you were taking pictures of them in the woods, not when they were turning your house into a theme park.

He places headphones on his head as he walks down the street, it's just a fifteen minutes walk to the bakery if he was been swift about it and he's thinking about buying a bike, having to leave his old one back at Brenwich hadn't been a fun decision.

For some reason he thinks about his romantic life, there wasn't much, high school wasn't fun and he didn't regret his choice to not go to college, it was overrated in his opinion.

Most people left him alone in high school and he liked it that way, except Rachel who he had to cut off ties with after school because she left the city for college.

So it's not his fault that he's not thought about having a relationship when he's too busy helping out his mom to pay the bills and at the same time hide his status at the same time, he's just had a lot on his plate and the balance they had now was priceless.

The bakery was doing better than ever and even if his asshat of a father never came back they would be fine because for the first time they had something to fall back on.

The Pack was ever willing to help and although Dream hopes it'll never have to come to that, he can't help but be relieved that his mom no longer had grey strands in her hair from worrying about that.

She was happier than ever and he wonders why she didn't just divorce his dad, his presence in their lives was more damaging than not having a father.

Hayden's bookstore is still closed and that was to be expected, they opened over a couple hours earlier than he did.

His phone dings when he pushes open the door, soft noise humming inside the sweet-smelling place.

He quickly checks it to see a text from Hayden, confirming if he would be at the bakery.

He quickly sends an affirmation and looks up to see that the people in the bakery, mostly females were staring at him in silence.

He frowns, hesitating because their glares were a little bit hostile.

Deidre hurries towards him in determination and ushers him outside, apron on and worry on her face as she drags him through the staff entrance.

"DD? What's going on?" He asks, taking off his headphones.

She pulls him into the store, still holding tightly to his hand. "I don't know." She says in a panic. "Mom is teetering on the edge of a panic attack."

"What?" He blinks, already making a move to leave. "Where's she? I have to..."

"No, wait, listen." Deidre grabs his hand again. "I don't know what happened but ladies have been hanging around ever since we opened and they've been talking about a male Omega that has apparently stolen the Alpha's heart, it's like the stepsisters gossiping about Cinderella, it's horrifying." She panics, slapping her hands on her face.

"What?" Dream splutters, headphones clattering to the ground. "What the fuck? What the actual effing fuck?!" He gasps, equally covering his mouth in shock, had Dale really not kept his secret? Because maybe he would just use the metal bat on him instead, no that was the only explanation.

"I know right!" Diedre throws her hands up. "That was the exact same reaction I had, what happened yesterday, Dream?" She asks desperately.

Dream just slowly crouches on the ground, hands on his head. "I might have met an Alpha in the woods." He admits with a wince.

Deidre's mouth drops open. "You what??!"

"And we went on a sorta date." He adds, deciding to just put everything out at once, it had seemed like a really great idea at the time but now that he's thinking about it, he fucked up.

Deidre's mouth closes and opens like a fish as she stares shell-shocked at him. "Th-this is a nasty joke right?"

"No." He groans, staring at the tiles under his feet. "Please don't tell Mom."

Deidre laughs in disbelief, staring at her brother like he sprouted wings in front of her. "No shit." She rubs her face. "Let me guess, said Alpha knows you're an Omega."

"Yes." He mutters under his breath.

She gives him a look. "There are only two Alphas in Pine Creek, I'm pretty sure you're not talking about your best friend's mate."

"No." He whispers again.

"We're in deep shit."

"No, I am." Dream groans, tousling up his hair. "Maybe I should just move to a cottage in the woods and start a small farm."

"How did this all even happen?" Deidre asks again, starting to pace. "Sure, you met an Alpha in the woods, that's hardly your fault but I didn't take you as the type to go on dates with strangers."

"It wasn't a date." Dream groans for the umpteenth time, his brain refusing to process how horrific a news this was.

"Okay, tell me every fucking thing, leave no details out because I'm seeing no other logical explanation, as a matter of fact, there is none! No logical explanation at all for how you've somehow managed to be the most popular and hated person in Pine Creek overnight so fess up!"

"Okay, okay, calm down." Dream makes hand gestures, his anxiety spiking as well. "Mom made me stay back yesterday right? And I got bored after completing my chores so I decided to have a creekside picnic, I mean no one ever comes to our part of the woods." He looks to her for reassurance.

Deidre still looks skeptical but she takes pity on her younger brother's panic. "I mean, I guess, keep going."

"I was just on my own, chasing after squirrels when this barbarian jumps me, long story short he finds out my status, promises to keep it a secret, and offers to buy me apology food..."

Deidre's look of skepticism intensifies, his story sounding very made up. "And you accepted?" She prompts with an eyebrow up.

"It was free food, I wasn't saying no to that." He corrects her. "Big mistake though, Alphas are assholes and when I'm about to take my leave, I bump into this lady who's crying because, get this, the Alpha that offered me apology food stood her up." He covers his face at this as if it hurts to relive this memory.

Deidre instantly catches on to what happened.

"I try to stand up for her but she turns on me so I just walked away."

Deidre stares at him unblinkingly.

"It's definitely Dale that tattled, he was the only one who knew, I don't know what bullshit he's trying to pull but I'm going to put him in his place the next time I bump into him which better be after I've purchased a metal bat."

Deidre cringes, about to explain that it's most likely the crying lady that made up the cruel rumors about him because she felt he was trying to take Dale from her, it didn't help that he fit the physique of an Omega and always hid his scent.

But before she could get her words out, the store door swings open to reveal a worker with crazed eyes.

"You traitor." She rages. "Male Omegas aren't fair, you're not supposed to exist, kill yourself!" 

Deidre doesn't even give her the chance to attract more like her or say anymore, dunking an entire bag of flour on her head as she pushes her out. "You need to leave, preferably out of town for like the rest of today, I'll explain things to Mom."

Dream just stares at her in disbelief, arms wrapped around himself to keep himself together, he's still shaken from the reaction of Meg. A sweet teenager who had always been curious about his status, he couldn't imagine how violent this has turned.