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lemonluvgirl · 1 year

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The Designation Games (Part 3)

She closed the door to her rooms with enough force that it would have been a slam if she hadn’t refrained just the slightest bit.

Sweat slicked her skin under her clothes, from the nape of her neck to the backs of her thighs. And there was a decidedly different type of wetness pooling in her underwear.

Her head was spinning.

Panic, confusion, and something akin to longing was all bubbling underneath her skin, clawing at each other for dominance.

The roar of her wildly conflicting thoughts was almost deafening. She struggled to ground herself in something concrete, and real.

All she had were three unwanted truths.

She was an Omega.

She was going into the Designation Games in a little under a week.

She would face 12 unmated Alphas in the training room tomorrow morning.

When she was reminded of facing the other tributes the next day, something inside her strengthened to steely resolve.

She shut Peeta and what had happened on the rooftop out of her immediate thoughts. The Omega inside her whined at the decision, but Katniss beat back her desperate whisperings of “Alpha, Alpha, go to Alpha and let him…” until she was nothing more than background noise again.

Haymitch had been right.

Her Omega was untrustworthy, and Katniss wasn’t about to roll over for anyone simply because her biology tried to trick her into it. She needed to keep her head on straight and her wits about her. It was just a strategy, a mutually beneficial one that they were both using to better their odds.

She was not his Omega. And he was not her Alpha.

She was stronger than that. She would be stronger than that.

Breakfast was an awkward and stilted affair. Katniss arrived late and tried to focus mainly on the food and not the way the gland on her neck throbbed when she first glimpsed her District partner sitting at the breakfast table. He was sipping a warm brown-looking something that steamed lightly from a cup in front of him while Effie blathered on about the different kinds of specialty chefs the Tribute Center employed.

She dodged his gaze when he tried to catch her eye. Instead, she basked in the yummy scents wafting around the table. There were fruits and loaves of bread along with meats and eggs. But the smell that called to her most was the one that she detected curling in the steam above Peeta’s drink.

It wasn’t coffee. Or the same tea from last night. Her heightened sense of smell told her that much.

It was something that smelled sugary and rich and—

She couldn’t resist turning her head as he broke off a corner of his bread roll and dunked it in his cup, tapped it gently on the rim to rid it of excess drops of moisture, and then brought it to his lips for a bite.

“They call it hot chocolate. It’s good.” He told her after he had swallowed. She fought a blush at being caught looking at him. But he didn’t respond with a smirk or a conspiratory look as she would have guessed. He simply reached out to grab an empty cup to pour some of the sweet, and creamy smelling liquid into it.

He gently placed it in front of her, leaning across the table slightly, and then retreated to his seat with a nervous-looking expression.

She wanted to refuse. She should refuse. Especially since the Omega voice whispered from the back of her mind about Alphas and gifts and attention.

But the cup smelled so wonderful.

The first sip was hot and almost too saccharine, even so, she couldn’t help but take another. Though the piles of eggs and bacon and other breakfast delicacies beckoned, they sat ignored until her cup was drained.

Peeta moved to refill her cup before she could reach for it herself. She blinked in confusion at the gesture, but then he pushed the little basket of rolls that would have kept the smaller children in the community home fed for almost a week toward her.

“The bread helps cut the sweetness.” He told her, softly.

She looked up at his eyes and immediately looked back down at her plate. She clenched her jaw at the way the Omega inside her was preening and prattling on about good Alphas providing and such nonsense.

She made herself take three bites of her eggs and two of bacon before she took another sip of the hot chocolate.

Then, after she was sure he wasn’t watching anymore, she reached out and tentatively took a roll. She broke off a corner and dunked it into her cup.

She frowned after she tried to stifle a contented sigh as the bite slid down her throat.

He was right, about the bread and the chocolate.

Haymitch dragged himself to breakfast even later than she had. Her plate was almost empty and she was mainly just sipping on her second cup of hot chocolate by the time he decided to grace everyone with his presence.

He poured himself a cup of black coffee and grabbed a muffin from the small tower of baked goods at the end of the table and promptly sat down.

That concerned look from last night was lingering in the tightness of his eyes and the lines of his mouth that threatened to pull into a frown as he regarded his tributes. He was dressed in a suit, much like the one he had worn for their entry into the Capitol.

“We need to discuss what to expect today,” Haymitch said after he spiked his coffee with a moderate pour from his breast-pocket flask.

Katniss saw Peeta sit up a bit straighter from the corner of her eye.

“You’ll spend the first half of the day in training, and the second half meeting your stylists. By now your genetic testing will have come back and your stylists will have a better understanding of those traits that they want to show off to potential sponsors.”

“Traits?” Katniss asked.

“Your genetic profile will have several measurable markers for overall health, strength, intelligence, and…virility,” Haymitch replied.

Effie let out a scandalized gasp.

“That is not a proper topic for breakfast discussion!” She admonished their mentor in a harsh tone.

Haymitch simply rolled his eyes at her.

“If your gonna clutch your pearls and faint go do it somewhere else.” He bit back.

“They are children Haymitch!” Effie protested.

“They’re competitors! In a very adult Game that is set to take place in less than a week. They need to what they’re going to be judged on.” Haymitch retorted.

At this, Effie fell uncharacteristically silent.

While Katniss felt privately grateful for Effie’s well-intended, if not well-placed concerns, she knew Haymitch was correct.

No matter how much she hated having this conversation she knew nothing was sacred in the Games when the cameras were rolling. They captured Alphas and Omegas courting and coupling with the same unabashed scrutiny as they did the gory violence and death.

Effie got up and stomped out of the room in offense, but Haymitch turned and focused his attention solely on the two of them.

“You only need to worry about your training session right now. Effie will escort you down to the training room, but the two of you will walk in by yourselves. This is where your teamwork comes in handy. You play up the friends' angle. Stick together, and don’t let anyone catch your partner alone or unaware. Katniss, the Alphas will most likely make a few demonstrations to get the attention of the Omegas. Don’t pay them any mind. Peeta, the other Alphas will probably try to draw you into a competition or confrontation of some sort. They’ll feel you both out and push your buttons to see what you might react to. Ignore them as much as you can but don’t turn your back on them or approach any of the other Omegas aside from Katniss no matter how good they smell—”

“That won’t be a problem,” Peeta interjected and Haymitch shot him a glare.

“Their scents will be concentrated along with the scent of the aggressive other Alphas. Your instinct will be to square off against them, to protect the Omegas that are frightened, but you need to avoid getting into a fight at all costs. The penalties for fighting before the Games begin are steep. So no matter what they say, don’t react.” Haymitch said, eyeing first Peeta, and then Katniss.

“What if someone picks a fight with us first?” Katniss asked.

“Walk away and let the attendants take care of it. They’ll be a lot of them, ready to break up fights and stun anyone causing trouble. All you need to do is go to a few stations and learn some skills. Which plants are ok to eat? How to tie some knots. Don’t attract too much attention but don’t cower in a corner either. You want to shoot for the middle of the pack, easy to forget but not entirely dismissible. The only time you’ll want to show off will be during your interviews, and your private sessions with the Gamemakers.” Haymitch told them.

Peeta nodded and Katniss let out a short sound of acknowledgment. The three of them stood up.

“And on that note, it's time for you to scent the boy, sweetheart,” Haymitch said turning to Katniss whose eyes went round with realization.

“Quid pro quo and all,” Haymitch added before snatching a glass of orange juice off the table and pulling a different flask out of his back pocket. He poured the contents of it into the juice and offered Katniss the glass first.

“You drink half and give the rest to the boy.” He instructed gruffly.

Katniss stared at the glass.

“Time’s a-wastin’ and we got places to be, so bottom’s up, girl,” Haymitch ordered in a more authoritative tone that scent a zip of energy down every inch of her spine.

She looked at him and growled, low and warningly, right in time Peeta’s deeper baritone joined her in what was more like a soft roar.

Haymitch blinked at them both, confounded.

“What the hell?” Haymitch demanded after he recovered.

Katniss snapped out of it, at the sound of his bewildered voice. She angrily downed half the glass of juice and then turned to Peeta.

She hastily pulled him down by his collar and sealed her mouth over the gland on the side of his neck.

She gave it three purposeful licks, just to make sure.

She ignored the way his eyes widened, and his pupils seemed to swallow up his irises.

She ignored the way he panted shallowly when she sucked just a tiny bit. And the sound he made deep in his throat.

Ignored the way that sound floated out between his gritted teeth and lodged itself in her chest, curling around her ribs and nestling itself somewhere profound.

Ignored the way her Omega crooned and chirped happily, basking in contentment.

Ignored the way her own body responded.

The way his taste saturated her tastebuds and clung to the roof of her mouth.

The way her heart pounded uncertainly in her chest, in terror or…..

She walked away from her mentor and her tribute partner and headed for the elevators, willing herself to keep it together and make it through the morning.

At the very least.

#thg #thg fanfiction #a/b/o fanfic #a/b/o dynamics #Tdg #The Effect #lemonluvwrites #thg a/b/o fanfic #thg a/b/o #everlark #everlark a/b/o

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