that’s where leadership and hierarchy come in. Which member is at the top of the pack structure?”
“The alpha,” someone answered.
“Correct. Easy enough. Now, who comes second?”
“The second.”
“Very good. And on down the line through the group of betas. Now, which pack member is at the bottom of the hierarchy?”
“The omega?” Georgette guessed.
“No,” Grant said. “And that’s the point I want you all to take away from today’s lesson. The omega isn’t at the bottom of the hierarchy, because she’s outside the hierarchy altogether.”
Again, a scoff from Cait.
“Enlighten us with your view on the matter, Cait,” he invited.
She turned and addressed the rest of the class. “Well, he makes it sound so nice,” she said. “But it’s really not nice at all if you think about it. We’re outside the hierarchy because we’re not full members of the pack. Because they don’t even think of us as people. We’re sex objects to them. That’s what he’s really saying.”
She turned back and raised an eyebrow at Grant defiantly.
He smiled mildly. “We’ll have a social experiment,” he said. “For the rest of the week, in our class, we’ll experiment with the idea of social structure in a pack. I want you all to imagine that Cait here is the lowest ranking pack member, and to treat her accordingly. At the end of the week, Cait, you’ll give us a report on your findings and tell us whether you found it worse to be the lowest ranking pack member or to be an omega.”
“I can give that report right now,” Cait said. “There’s nothing worse than living as an omega.”
“I’m sure you think you could,” Grant said. “But the reason I chose you as the subject for this experiment, Cait, is that you need to learn how to submit. You need to learn that what you believe, and what you want, is not always what’s most important. And you need to stop trying to gain the last word in every situation. Believe it or not, you’re only hurting yourself with that kind of behavior.”
Cait scoffed again, but Grant was finished with her. He turned to the rest of the class.
“There will be no violence directed toward Cait,” he said. “Anyone deviating from that rule will face harsh consequences indeed. And she isn’t here to take orders from any of you or to do your work for you. Your role in this experiment is merely to try to think of her as a lower social order. This will help you develop an understanding of the concept that, as omegas, you will live lives where people are far less important to the health and unity of the pack than you are. There’s nothing more heartbreaking to me than an omega with low self-esteem.”
He surveyed the room. Some of the girls were taking notes on what he had said. Some were gazing up at him raptly. A few seemed disengaged.
And then there was Cait.
She stood out like a sore thumb in the front row. She was slumped down in her seat again, staring at her shoes.
She’s unhappy, he realized. That’s where the bad attitude comes from. She’s a really unhappy person.
Well, it only made sense. She was an omega, and she was rejecting her station in life. The one thing that had the potential to make her happy, and she was pushing it away.
At least she was there. As long as she was at Omega University, there was hope. If she ran away from school and went off on her own, Grant knew that she would be beyond saving. But as long as he had her there, there was a chance he would be able to make her see wisdom.
You probably think I hate you, he thought, looking down at her. You probably think I’m a heartless bastard. If only you could see how the only thing I want is for you to live a good life.
Chapter Five
CAIT
Fucking asshole, Cait thought as she left the classroom. Bad enough that she was stuck there with all those brainless omegas. Bad enough that she actually had to attend a class called Pack Dynamics and Alpha Appreciation. Alpha appreciation! That wasn’t education. That was just alphas brainwashing omegas into doing whatever they said. Just like alphas always did.
All that was bad enough. But to have to be taught by this complete bastard of a professor...that was more than Cait could stand.
He had singled her out. That was obvious. And it was equally obvious why he had done it, she thought.