Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Victory. The taste was sweeter than honey, richer than the finest steak, and more precious than gold. After so many long months of fighting, so many deaths, and the constant vigilance against treachery, it was finally over. Gone were the days of rationing and hunger. Now, they could eat their fill. The tables groaned under the weight of the food, and the air rang with joyous laughter as the pack feasted. How long had it been since every one of his packmates had a full stomach?

Pack Alpha Blake closed his blue eyes and inhaled deeply, filling his nostrils with the scent of his pack. He couldn't remember when he'd been so content. Even as a child, the constant struggle to survive in his pack's overcrowded eastern territory had been an ever-present threat. Again and again, the former Pack Alpha, Blake's father, had been urged to expand into the rich lands of the west. But always, he had hesitated. The western territory was indeed rich, with fertile lands, livestock, and warm sunshine. In contrast, years of overfarming had stripped the once-fertile farmlands of his own pack's territory, while overpopulation depleted the resources and what food could be produced. For as long as Blake could remember, rationing was the rule. Fertile omegas were entered into lotteries to determine who could bear pups in an attempt to slow the population growth. Sickness ran rampant, unchecked from a lack of medicine. Poverty was the standard rather than the exception. All through his father's territory, individual families had turned savage, fighting their neighbors over resources, so desperate to provide for themselves that their loyalty to the pack eroded. The pack itself had been on the verge of collapse when Blake's father had finally agreed to attack the western pack in a desperate bid to expand his territory.

But the western pack was fierce. Strong, well-fed weres battled the ragged eastern pack, defending their territory with heartbreaking ease. It wasn't until his father fell in battle and Blake became Pack Alpha that the tide began to turn. For Blake fought with a ferocity born of desperation. There was no length he wouldn't go, no atrocity he wouldn't commit, in the name of saving his pack. For his pack, Blake had given up his heart and soul. And it had worked. Bit by bit, battle by battle, the eastern pack moved into the western territory. And finally, today, Blake had slain the western Pack Alpha, tearing his throat out to the cheers of his pack.

Blake smiled, moving to rejoin the celebration. His pack, finished feasting, had moved on to dividing up the spoils. While all the western alphas would, of course, be slain, the most desirable omegas were among the spoils of war. Those who were yet unbonded were being parceled out. The cream of the crop would go to Blake's generals, the war heroes who had fought at their Alpha's side. Already, Blake saw, Usher had claimed a beautiful omega female. Blood oozed from the new claiming mark in her neck as he carried her towards the stairs, where the bedrooms waited. Pharrell, as usual, was being far more picky. Laughter and good-natured teasing rose all around him as he paced up and down the line of omegas, his face a mask of indecision. Christina finally lost patience. The tiny yet fierce alpha stomped forward, pushed past Pharrell, and grabbed the arm of a slender dark-haired omega male. That produced a yell of protest from Pharrell. As a higher-ranking general, he could, of course, claim the omega for himself. And to the surprise of no one, he did. Christina only laughed, and Blake's laughter rang with hers. It had been obvious to anyone watching that Pharrell was interested in the omega, only unable to make up his mind. As Pharrell bit into his omega's neck, Christina winked at Blake and selected the omega she really wanted - a petite blonde omega female, the only omega present shorter than herself. A moment later, she and Pharrell were headed up the stairs.

Blake, naturally, had already been given a chance to look over the available omegas, but had decided not to choose one for himself. His reasons were simple - he didn't have time for a bond. Now that he'd conquered the new territory, he had his work cut out for him. The territory needed to be divided up, parceled out in a manner that was fair, yet rewarded those who had most supported him. Meanwhile, he needed to continue the job of rooting out the remaining western alphas. He knew that a large group of them had escaped his initial purge, and that could only mean trouble down the road. Most of the western betas had been killed as well, with only those with useful skills retained to serve the pack. Of course, that meant that many betas had likely fled with the alphas, increasing their numbers.

Gwen, Blake's second in command, was grinning at him. That was never a good sign. Although Gwen had proven again and again that she was completely loyal, the female alpha was forever looking for ways to "help" the Pack Alpha. Usually that took the form of ceremonies of some sort or another, all designed to display Blake's power and dominance, and all, in his opinion, completely silly and unnecessary. Killing the western Pack Alpha had been such a ceremony. Before that, Blake had been all but bullied into tasting the first fruits of the new lands, drinking the first cup of water from a recently-obtained reservoir, and bedding the western Pack Alpha's omega mate before killing him, to name a few. He could not deny the effect these ceremonies had on the morale of both packs, but he couldn't help but feel Gwen took things to extremes. The way she grinned at him now, he was certain that yet another over-the-top ceremony was on its way. Blake could only wonder what it was.

It was some time later, after all of his generals had returned to the main hall, that Blake found out. Gwen stood and clapped her hands. Immediately, the hall grew silent. With a wink at Blake, she turned to address the attentive pack. "Brothers and sisters!" she began. "Today, our Pack Alpha has ended the deprivation that most of us have known since we were pups. Our territory is now greater than it has ever been, and Pack Alpha Blake stands supreme as the Alpha of Alphas, greatest of our kind, the fiercest and most powerful of all weres!" She paused, waiting for the cheers to die down before she continued. "Today, we saw our Alpha tear out the throat of the interloper of the west, just as he did the so-called Pack Alpha's mate after claiming him for himself, and both of their alpha sons. Now that all are gone, there remains one last task."

Here it comes, Blake thought. He braced, wondering what his second in command had in mind this time?

"I have discovered that, in an attempt to deceive us, the cur hid from us his youngest son, secreting him away in a cave high in the mountains. From there, this son has been directing guerrilla attacks against our pack for months! He is the one responsible for the bombing of our supply train. He masterminded the ambush last month that decimated our reserves. And it was this son that plotted the most recent attempt to poison our noble Pack Alpha!"

The pack was on its feet now, baying for blood. Even Blake was surprised. A third son? Blake's hackles had risen, and a growl rose low in his throat. What kind of alpha hid away in the mountains while his parents and brothers fought? While Blake couldn't deny the fact that the guerrilla attacks had done more to halt his advance than anything the western Pack Alpha or his other sons had done, it went against everything that made an alpha an alpha.

Gwen, of course, knew this. She raised her hands for silence, and quickly got it. "Tonight," she declared, "this youngest son will be brought to face the justice of our Alpha." She gestured to a group of waiting betas. "Bring him in!"

A minute later, the betas returned to the room, dragging with them a struggling, cursing figure. His arms were bound behind his back, and, like all prisoners of war, a thick leather collar circled his throat, marking him as the dog he was. The three betas had hold of the heavy chain attached to the collar and were dragging him forward with it. He was giving them quite a time. As Blake watched, the prisoner charged forward, fangs bared, and lunged at one of the betas. The fangs snapped inches away from the beta's arm as another beta grabbed the prisoner's arms. It took a total of five betas to finish dragging him in, and six to force him to his knees in front of Blake.

But Blake barely noticed. Like nearly everyone else, Blake was too stunned to move. The prisoner was no alpha, but an omega! And he was an omega like nothing Blake had ever seen. Put simply, he was gorgeous. Furious hazel eyes glared up at him from beneath a head of short dark hair. His handsome face bore the stubble of someone with little access to shaving implements as well as a few bruises, but its symmetry was perfect. Through the tattered remains of his shirt, the prisoner's heaving chest rippled with muscle, leading down to his flat stomach and slender waist. Slim legs knelt unwillingly on the floor, still trying to kick at the betas that held him down.

Gwen, naturally, knew how to milk an occasion. She strutted imperiously towards the prisoner, taking his chain from the betas. This, she presented to Blake. "Behold your prisoner, the omega Adam Levine!"

Numb, Blake accepted the chain as roars of approval rose around him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the prisoner. Adam snarled and strained, actually lunging forward in a vain attempt to reach Blake. "Fuck you!" he yelled. "Go ahead and kill me, like you did my family, but face me like a were! Let me go and fight me, you cowardly piece of shit!"

Jeers and snarls rose from the pack. The alpha in Blake growled, demanding that this omega submit. But even as the urge to attack rose, it was beaten down by another urge – to claim. For beneath the leather collar, Adam's alabaster skin was unmarked. Adam wasn't just an omega. He was an unclaimed omega.

Blake's nostrils flared, inhaling the omega's scent. It was rich, a warm sweet mix of honeysuckle and cinnamon, tempered with a hint of vanilla. His fangs grew longer as he stared at Adam's neck. Blake had bedded many an omega, but had, as of yet, claimed none. But the beautiful creature before him affected him as no omega had.

Adam, sensing a change, had finally stilled. The noise in the hall dimmed as all eyes went to the Pack Alpha. Blake's nostrils flared again and his lips peeled back, revealing his fangs as he moved closer. His strong alpha scent filled the air, and Adam's eyes grew wide. "No!" he yelled, struggling frantically. "No, fight me! I will never be yours!"

But Blake was unstoppable. He stepped forward, his long legs quickly closing the gap, and gathered up the chain, using the collar and a fistful of Adam's hair to force his head back, exposing the unmarked gland of his neck. Adam roared, his struggles growing desperate as Blake sniffed and licked at his throat. And then Blake's fangs sank home.

Adam's body jerked as though he'd been zapped with electricity. His eyes glazed, mind reeling from the effects of the hormones that flooded his bloodstream, even as his scent subtly changed. Claimed. He'd been claimed by the worst monster he'd ever known. For a moment, his head dropped in submission as Blake released him to lick at his claiming bite. Adam's eyes closed. He inhaled deeply, instinctively breathing in the scent of his mate. But Adam's iron will quickly reasserted itself. His eyes flew open, filled with rage, and his lips curled back from his fangs. Then he lunged at the Pack Alpha's throat, not to claim, but to rend and tear.

Chaos. Blake found himself dragged back, his hand clutching at his throat. It was nothing short of a miracle that his jugular hadn't been severed. As it was, Adam's fangs had torn the muscle of his neck. Blood gushed from the wound, pouring over Blake's hand and staining his shirt even as he blinked in surprise. Adam snarled, Blake's blood staining his beautiful mouth, straining to reach him even as a furious Gwen moved in for the kill. "STOP!" Blake roared.

Silence instantly fell.

Blake got back to his feet. He accepted the cloth he was handed and pressed it to his neck. His eyes were full of fury as he approached Adam. Adam snarled again, the picture of defiance even as blood seeped from his claiming bite. For a long moment, the two simply stared at each other, the clash of wills nearly palpable in the air between them. And then Blake smiled, a cold, cruel smile that didn't touch his eyes. "Take him to my chambers," he ordered, "and prepare him for me."

"I will KILL you!" Adam screamed. "You may force yourself on me, Blake, but I will never submit! Sooner or later, I will find a way to end you! Just kill me now!"

Blake didn't respond. He stood, angry and impassive, watching as the struggling omega was dragged towards the door. Gwen moved to his side. "As always, I submit to your leadership," she said softly, keeping her voice low enough to not be heard by anyone other than the Pack Alpha. "By claiming this omega, you have asserted your claim over your new territory. But Blake, I have never seen an omega so willful and… and…" She shook her head. "If I couldn't scent him, I would believe he was an alpha! I cannot believe that he attacked you!"

"I'll enjoy breaking him," Blake replied. "You can count on it."

Chapter Text

Even knowing it was useless, Adam couldn't help but struggle.

The collar around his neck kept brushing against the claiming bite as he moved, even as the leather cuffs dug into his wrists and ankles.  Still he strained with all his might, trying desperately to pull free, or, at the very least, win some slack.  But he was tied tightly to the four corners of the bed.  The chain on his collar was fastened to the headboard.  He'd been gagged, thick leather shoved into his mouth and strapped to his head to keep him from biting again.  His clothing was gone.  Naked, humiliated, and helpless, he could only wait for the arrival of his rapist.

Blake fucking Shelton!  The monster from the east who had raped and murdered his mother, slaughtered his brothers, and then killed his father.  Adam had planned his stealth attacks, knowing that Blake's spies were closing in, even when it was clear that his pack was doomed.  He’d known it was only a matter of time before Blake captured him, as well.  But Adam thought he'd be granted an honorable death.  When the end came, when it was clear there was no escape, he’d sent those with him away and faced down his enemies alone.  He’d killed three of their minor alphas before they’d finally overwhelmed him, brought him down, and captured him.  By the time they’d locked the humiliating prisoner of war collar around his neck, the proof of what he was should have been undeniable.  Omega or not, how could there be any doubt that Adam was a warrior?

Adam's father and brothers had been beaten, captured, and dragged before Blake much as Adam himself had been.  But they'd been given a chance to fight Blake at the end.  It wasn't much of a chance.  In their beaten, weakened state, it was obvious that Blake would emerge victorious.  Yet Adam's heart had swelled with pride to learn that all three had gone down fighting, spilling at least a little of Blake's blood.  Adam had hoped for the same end, a chance to die fighting.  But in the end, it seemed, that wasn't the fate that awaited him.  To the monsters from the east, he was only another omega. 

Another spoil of war.

Adam hated that he'd been born omega.  All his life, he'd bucked the rules, refusing to be submissive, opting instead to fight against anyone and anything that tried to control him.  His mother had been shocked, but his father had only roared laughter, hearing of his youngest son's exploits.  No alpha had ever made Adam submit.  As a pup, he'd thrashed alphas much older and stronger than he was.  When he grew older, more than one foolish alpha had tried to woo him, or, among the exceptionally stupid, to force him when he'd rebuffed their advances.  He'd sent every one limping, or in one notable case, crawling, home.  His mother had despaired that no one would want such a willful, untraditional omega.  But by the time he'd reached maturity, there wasn't an unbonded high ranked alpha in the pack that hadn't gone to his father to ask for Adam. 

Adam had grown into a rare beauty.  It was said that Adam was even more beautiful than his mother, who had been so desirable that his father had actually had to fight not one, but two duels to win him as his mate.  Adam had inherited his mother's looks, combined with his father's fierce pride and fighting spirit.  The result was nothing short of spectacular.  But Adam had refused every alpha that asked for him.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want a mate.  None of them had been what he was looking for.

Adam knew what he saw when he looked in the mirror, but honestly, what was the big deal?  So he looked nice.  What mattered, in Adam's eyes, was that he could fight.  He absorbed fighting tactics and battle strategies like a sponge, training with the finest warriors in the pack.  Of course, those warriors had only agreed to train him because they'd believed the lovely omega would agree to be claimed.  That meant Adam had to frequently change teachers to avoid their amorous advances.  But despite this, he’d learned well, becoming an expert fighter, a warrior capable of holding his own against the best his pack had to offer.  And when the savages from the east had started making serious encroachments on their territory, Adam had lined up before his father with the other warriors for a place in the fight.

And that was when his mother lost it.

Adam only got his looks from his omega mother.  The man had passed none of his usual gentle, submissive temperament to his youngest son.  But when he’d seen his omega son waiting with the alpha warriors, Adam's mother became a different creature entirely.  And it was at his urging (insisting, actually, complete with thrown dishes, screaming, and broken furniture) that Adam's father ordered his youngest son back with the other omegas, far from the fighting. 

It was the first time his father had ever treated Adam like an omega.  It had not gone over well at all.  Adam threw a temper tantrum that rivaled his mother.  But in the end, Adam had no choice.

Then the war started to turn against them, and at last, his father sought out his youngest son.  But even then, Adam was kept back, forced into hiding in a mountain cave.  When Adam had protested, all his father would say about it was that it was for his own protection.  At the time, Adam hadn't understood.  He’d wanted to take the same risks as the rest of his pack.

Only now, as he lay helpless on Blake's bed, did Adam understand.

He would never be given the chance to die as a warrior in honorable combat.  That was a death reserved only for alphas.  He wouldn't even suffer the death of his mother, raped and then killed.  No, what waited for him was a fate worse than death.

Claimed.

Knotted.

Bred.  

The thought of Blake's pups growing inside of him made Adam cry out with disgust and anger.  Hot, bitter tears of frustration burned the backs of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.  He had to hold on.  Blake would let his guard down.  Adam would have his chance. 

After all, Blake couldn't keep him tied to his bed forever!

But until then?  Oh, until then, how could he bear it?  Blake's hands on his body, Blake's weight pressing him down, and worst of all, Blake's knot forcing into him!  Adam had been on heat suppressants since he'd first presented.  With luck, it would be well over a month before he went into a heat.  But then, what would he do?  How could he stand it when his own body betrayed him, when he begged and cried for that same knot?

****

Blake sniffed the air when he entered his chambers, breathing in the sweet omega scent that filled the room.  It contrasted sharply with the low, guttural growl that came from behind the sheer green curtains on his canopy bed.  The bed squeaked a bit, then came the creak of rope, the quiet rattle of chain.  The figure on the bed was barely visible through the curtains.  From where he stood, he could see Adam’s heaving chest, the outline of his body as he struggled.  Exquisite.  Blake breathed in the scent again, basking in it.  “Adam?” he called.

The growl rose in answer.

Blake waited a moment, standing with his eyes closed, inhaling the omega's scent.  His fingers brushed against the dressing on his throat.  In retrospect, he didn't blame Adam for attacking.  After all, Blake had just claimed him against his will.  If their positions had been reversed…? 

But of course, that was preposterous.  He was Pack Alpha, while Adam was only a captured omega.

"I've been listening to a few stories about you," he called, moving slowly to the bed.  "You are the most desirable omega in your pack, and yet you refused every potential mate that came for you!  It's like you were waiting for me."  He smiled, listening to the angry reaction from behind the canopy.  "They say you fight as well as an alpha.  Gwen’s men told me that you killed three minor alphas when they captured you.  You think you’re a warrior, don’t you?  Is that why you wanted to fight me?  Why you wanted an alpha's death?  But you're no alpha.  You're an omega."  He pulled back the canopy.  "You're MY omega."

Adam lay spread eagled on his back, wrists and ankles properly restrained.  Naked, he was even more beautiful than Blake remembered.  The alpha sucked in his breath and simply stared, taking in the glorious sight before him.  He’d noticed the dark patches on the omega’s chest through the torn shirt when Adam had been presented.  At the time, he’d assumed they were bruises, or perhaps smudges of dirt from his capture.  But now that he was naked, Blake could see what they actually were.  Adam, it seemed, was fond of tattoos.  Normally, Blake didn’t care much for them.  He had one on his forearm, but hadn’t been interested in them on his omegas.  But somehow, Adam’s tattoos seemed right.  Somehow, they enhanced his beauty, rather than detracting from it.  Blake reached out a hand, brushing the pads of his fingers over the tats on Adam's chest, tracing the smooth muscles of his abdomen and moving down, deliberately avoiding his groin to instead brush over his thigh, down behind his knee and calf, over the cuff on his ankle and back up over the arch of his foot.  Adam's body tensed as he strained to pull away from the touch, snarling like a rabid animal behind the gag.  He spat something unintelligible and strained at his bonds.

"How about we take that gag out?" Blake asked.  "Here we go."  He carefully unbuckled the straps from behind Adam's head and pulled the gag free.

Adam's jaw worked, getting the kinks out.  Then he spat directly in Blake's face.  "Keep your filthy hands off me!" he yelled.  "Let me go, you disgusting eastern piece of shit!"

Blake wiped the offensive matter off of his face.  Then, quick as a flash, his hand shot out, catching the omega by the throat.  "Do not do that again," he growled.

"Or what?!" Adam managed, choking.  "You'll kill me?  Go ahead!  I’d much rather die than let you touch me!"

"No, I won’t kill you," Blake replied.  "I'll just gag you again.  And then later on, I'll cut your tongue out.  Is that what you want?"  He held Adam's neck a bit longer, making sure the omega got the message.  Then he moved to the head of the bed and took the chain attached to Adam's collar.  "Of course, I can't have you biting me again," he explained as he pulled the chain tighter, causing the collar to dig into the soft tissue of Adam's throat and force his head back.  "So, we'll just make good and sure that you stay nice and still."

Adam gritted his teeth, trying to control his anger.  "Are you afraid to fight me?" he called.  "Is this all there really is to the great Blake Shelton?"  He laughed mockingly.  "Any knothead can rape a tied down omega!  Better than you have tried to force me, and they left with bruises and blue balls, every one of them!  Think you can do better?  Let's find out!  Let me go, and face me!"

"Why should I?" Blake wanted to know.  "This worked just fine for your mother.  And if you're half as good as he was, we're about to have a hell of a good time.  Besides," he continued, stroking Adam's face.  "I don't want to mess up that pretty face of yours anymore."

"You fucking coward!" Adam yelled.  "Let me go!  Or can't you get it up unless your victim is helpless?!"

Blake didn't respond.  Instead, he peeled off his shirt, still stained with blood from Adam's earlier attack.  The rest of his clothes quickly followed, and soon, he was naked, climbing up onto the bed with Adam.

Adam couldn't help but look.  There was no denying that the eastern Pack Alpha was very attractive.  Blake's body was rock hard, conditioned by years of fighting.  There was barely an inch of skin that didn't bear a scar.  Fierce blue eyes gazed out from a chiseled face topped with gunmetal hair.  His muscular arms flexed as he climbed onto the bed, and he had one of the longest sets of legs Adam had ever seen on a man. 

And then there was what was between those legs. 

Adam had never been sexually intimate with anyone, but he knew enough about alpha anatomy to know what to expect.  Even so, the knowledge paled when faced with the real thing.  Blake was huge, even for an alpha.  Already erect, his phallus stood ready, precum glistening from the tip.  This was a true alpha, his alpha, and Adam's omega responded even through the suppressants, flooding his genitals with hormone-laced blood, trying to prepare him for his mate.  Adam shook his head.  "No!  Leave me alone!"

"My beautiful omega," Blake murmured, running his hands up Adam's thighs.  His eyes ran over Adam's body, stopping when they reached his groin, noting the flush of his vulva, the hardening of the small omega penis.  He smiled, eyes darkening with lust.  "You want me.  Just look at you!  You want your mate."

"No!  No!  Get away from me!"  Adam struggled mightily, thrashing desperately as Blake settled between his thighs.  The alpha lowered his head, inhaled the scent there, and then his tongue flicked out.

Instantly, a wave of sensation flooded Adam's body.  This was nothing like his own fingers, or the occasional vibrator he'd used to relieve himself.  Blake's mouth was warm and wet, the tongue exploring the secret folds of Adam's vulva even as his hand closed around Adam's penis, slightly jerking, reducing the omega to low moans.  But even through it, even though his body ached for Blake's touch, Adam fought.  "You're a monster!  You murdered my family, my friends, everyone I cared about, everyone I've ever known!  I can't stop you from taking my body, Blake, but know that I hate you!  I despise you, and I always will!"

That made Blake pause.  Family was everything to him.  Family was why he’d become what he became!  The reality of what he'd done to the lovely omega that struggled before him was enough to reach him even now. 

But then his eyes swept over the glorious body of his mate, and he forgot everything else.  With a passionate growl, he climbed on top of Adam.  Wrapping one arm around the thrashing omega's slender waist, he sucked at the bond bite while his other hand stroked his massive cock, rubbing the head of it against Adam's vulva.  Adam cried out, giving voice to a constant litany of "Get off me!  Get off of me!" even as his body continued to respond, his small penis becoming hard as his vulva grew engorged and glistening wet.

Blake felt the dampness and groaned in desire.  His lips moved, sucking their way up Adam's neck, over the collar to seek the omega's mouth.  Adam tried to turn his head away, but Blake brought the arm around Adam's waist up to catch his chin, holding the omega's head still, forcing him to submit to the kiss.  Adam promptly clamped his jaws shut, keeping out Blake's probing tongue.  Then he abruptly opened his jaws and snapped his teeth shut again, hoping to catch Blake's tongue.

Blake quickly pulled back.  For a moment, his blue eyes blazed in anger.  His omega was denying him what he wanted, and his alpha was howling in fury.  Adam braced for a blow.  But Blake only chuckled.  "Naughty omega," he murmured.  "If you won't let me have that mouth, I know another hole that's ready for me."  And with that, he thrust forward.

Adam screamed as his virgin opening was breached, screamed as Blake pushed in deep, and kept screaming, even as his body shuddered in ecstasy beneath Blake.  He screamed until Blake's knot swelled, locking them together as the alpha filled his womb with load after load of heat.  And then he went silent.  As Blake moaned through his climax, Adam closed his eyes, letting his rage build.

He would kill this alpha, he vowed silently.  If it took the rest of his life, he would kill Blake Shelton.

Chapter Text

"I wasn't supposed to be Pack Alpha," Blake explained.  His voice was low as he stared into his mug, a moody frown on his face.  "I had an older brother.  He died when the flu epidemic went through and took about a quarter of my pack with it.”  He shook his head.  “Flu.  My brother, the next Pack Alpha, dead from the flu.  I couldn't believe it.  But suddenly, I was next in line."

Adam blinked.  "Are you serious?"

"I am.  I always thought I'd be one of his generals someday, maybe even his second in command.  Instead, I was our father's heir, and when he died, I became Pack Alpha."

Adam blinked again.  "You're fucking serious!  I cannot believe this!"

"I couldn't believe it either, not really,” Blake continued.  “People tried to keep it from me, but I wasn't deaf, blind, or stupid.  I knew what they were saying.  They thought I was weak.  They thought I was too gentle to be Pack Alpha, that my family's dominance would end with my father."

Adam shook his head in disgust.  "You are actually sitting here, telling your life story to the guy you raped last night?!  You fucking idiot!"

"You know who the worst one was?" Blake went on, oblivious.  "My uncle.  When my father died and I took over, he actually challenged me!  I had to kill him.  My own uncle!"

"Listen, you stupid asshole, I do not give a shit about your uncle,” Adam informed him.  “Your uncle bores the tits off me.  You want to swap sad tales about deaths in the family, after what you did to mine?  I’m fairly certain I have you beat!"

Annoyed, Blake sipped at his drink.  “Damn, you’re bitchy in the morning.”

Adam’s only response was to kick the remains of his breakfast at Blake.  He went back to pacing, testing the length of his chain, wanting to see how far he could reach, and confirmed that he was brought up short about three feet from the bars.  The door, set off to the side, was five feet away.  He couldn't reach anyone coming in until they were well into the cell.  Even if he choked the hell out of himself and really strained, the best he could do was kick them.  He’d already explored what he could of the cell and found nothing of use.  The floor was packed dirt, with a disgusting pit in one corner that was obviously used for waste.  The walls were cinderblock on three sides, with thick steel bars and a sliding cell door at the front.  The key to the door hung from the hook outside the cell, just maddeningly out of reach of anyone who tried reaching through the bars.  A heavy metal ring was bolted into the rear wall of the cell.  The chain attached to his collar had been locked to that ring with an equally heavy padlock.  Adam had worked for hours last night, trying to somehow either get the chain loose or, better yet, get the collar off.  The thick leather of the collar had been fastened with a metal staple that threaded through one of a series of holes in the leather.  It acted like the prong of a buckle, allowing the collar to be adjusted to a snug fit around his neck.  The staple was then padlocked to the chain, locking the chain to the collar and the collar around his neck at the same time.  With the proper tools, Adam thought he might possibly be able to pick the locks.  But that option simply wasn’t available to him in the cell.  Try as he might, he couldn’t find a way to free himself, and had spent a miserable night.

At least he’d accomplished his goal of getting away from Blake for a while.  Once Blake had finished and his knot had gone down, he’d remained on top of Adam, arms wrapped around the omega and head tucked under Adam’s chin.  In minutes, he was snoring peacefully in a deep, contented sleep.  Adam had waited patiently, seeming still and compliant, letting Blake believe he’d won by taking away his innocence.  Letting Blake believe he’d broken him.  Even if he hadn’t fallen for it, Blake had obviously believed that, with Adam still tied down, there was nothing to fear.  But the moment Blake shifted enough in his sleep to be in reach, Adam had once again put his fangs to good use.  The satisfying result was that Blake’s right ear had been nearly torn completely off. 

Of course, the result of that was that Adam had been dragged into this filthy cell and chained to the wall.  Adam had spent a long, uncomfortable night lying naked on the cold dirt floor.  But at least Blake wasn’t lying on top of him anymore.  If he’d been forced to endure Blake’s weight pinning him down for much longer, he might have lost his mind.

To say he’d been surprised when Blake had shown up early this morning offering warm wet cloths to clean himself, some ragged clothing, and hot food had been an understatement.  He’d expected Blake to make an appearance, but he’d also expected a beating.  Instead, Blake had been calm.  Blake made sure to keep out of the treacherous omega’s reach, but he hadn’t acted at all the way Adam had expected.  He’d smiled and spoken gently to Adam, even asking if the food was to his liking.  He’d almost been kind.

Of course, then he’d sat his lanky frame on a stool outside of Adam’s cell and started this asinine conversation.

“You know what you remind me of?” Blake was saying, interrupting Adam’s musings.  “You remind me of those old stories from back before the Great Human War.”

“How the hell did we get from your stupid boring uncle to human tales?”

“They had these humans whose only job was to look beautiful and sing and dance,” Blake continued, ignoring the interruption.  “Other than that, they really didn’t have any value to their packs at all.  And yet, they were considered of great value.  Humans used to pay high sums just to see them, and fight for a chance to mate.  So naturally, they were also completely stuck on themselves.  They cared nothing for their packs, only for themselves and what they could get.  And if they didn’t get whatever they wanted, well, they threw fits, and then the humans would fall all over themselves to make them happy again.  What were they called?”  Blake thought for a moment.  Then he snapped his fingers.  “Rock stars!  That’s what you’re like.  A damned rock star.”

“Yeah, I remember those stories,” Adam shot back.  “They also had these humans that lived out in the country, who married their own cousins and could barely think enough to scratch their own balls.  That’s you, you overgrown inbred halfwit!  Big country!”

“You know, I could have just left you lying there, naked, cold, hungry, and filthy,” Blake pointed out.  “The least you could do is thank me.”

Adam cocked an eyebrow.  “Really?  You want me to thank you?  Well then thank you, Blake Shelton, for being a murdering piece of shit, taking me prisoner, claiming me against my will like I’m a damned piece of meat and then tying me to your bed and raping me!  Oh, and thank you so much for throwing me in this stinking dungeon all night!  I really appreciate it!”  He grinned.  “By the way, how’s your neck and the ear?  You look adorable all bandaged up!”

Blake shrugged.  “Stings a bit.  How’s your vagina?  You sure were nice and tight for me last night!  Hope it’s that good later on, when we go for round two.”

Adam’s smile vanished.  Without thinking, he charged at Blake.  His collar abruptly brought him up short, nearly jerking him off of his feet.  Gagging and coughing, Adam backed up, grimacing as he rubbed at his throat.

Blake hadn’t moved.  He calmly sipped his drink.  “How’d that feel?” he called.

“Fuck you!” Adam rasped, still rubbing at his neck.  “You want to take me again, Blake?  Why don’t you come in here and try it?  Just you!  Don’t send your betas for me.  They’re scared to death of me anyway.”

“I heard.”  Blake grimaced.  “You know that one of them died from the injuries you gave him when they tied you to the bed last night?  There’s a couple more that might not make it.  That’s not even counting the broken bones, the cuts and bruises…”  He shook his head.  “They’re just doing their job, Adam.  If you want to fight, save it for me.”

Adam abruptly straightened.  “You’ll fight me, then?”

“Maybe,” Blake replied.  He sounded bored.  “I don’t know what you think it will prove, though.  You can’t beat me, Adam, and I won’t kill you.  I’ll just beat you down and take you anyway.  You’ll be the same, only sore.  Why put yourself through it?”

“You’re so sure you can beat me?  Why?  Just because I’m an omega?  Prove it!” Adam challenged.  He tugged at his collar and beckoned to Blake.  “Come in here, Shelton, and take this fucking collar off of me!”

Blake snorted.  “Right, take the collar off so you can run.  What a great idea!  Why didn’t I think of it before?”

“I won’t run,” Adam retorted.  “You don’t have to let me out of this cell.  Keep the door locked so I can’t run away.  Just let me go so I can fight!  If you can beat me in a fair fight, I’ll stay and be your mate.”  Adam saw that he had the alpha’s complete attention, and gave Blake his most seductive smile.  “Think about it, alpha!  Beat me in a fair fight, and I’ll be yours, willingly!  You can keep me here without leashing me or locking me up.  You can sleep with me without getting pieces ripped off.  You can even fuck me without tying me down first!  But if I win?”  His eyes gleamed.  “If I win, I kill you, take the key from your twitching, bleeding corpse, and do my best to get out of this hell before your men hunt me down!”

Blake took another drink from his mug.  He kept his face carefully neutral.  He’d gotten enough of a look at Adam’s body to know that he was unusually well muscled for an omega.  He had none of the typical softness that usually marked his gender.  If the reports from Gwen’s men were true, and Adam really had killed three minor alphas before he’d been captured, then clearly Adam knew how to fight.  The alpha in Blake wanted to rise to his mate’s challenge, excited not only by the chance to dominate, but by Adam’s words.  If you can beat me in a fair fight, I’ll stay and be your mate.  His omega, submitting to him at last.  Adam, coming willingly to his bed.  Adam, bearing his pups.  Just the thought was making his cock twitch.  He quickly drained his mug and rose.

Adam brightened, hazel eyes glittering in anticipation as Blake’s hand moved towards the key to his cell.  “Come on,” he whispered, tugging on his collar.  “Come in and take this off.  Let me fight you!  Face me, warrior to warrior!”

But then, Blake’s hand dropped away from the key.  He moved closer to the cell and leaned forward, one arm across the bars, eyes moving over Adam’s body.  Blake was having clothes brought for his mate, but for now, Adam was wearing basically rags.  Torn, filthy pants hung from his narrow hips from a makeshift belt consisting of a piece of rope tied around his waist.  A tattered vest left his arms and chest bare.  Adam looked like a shipwreck victim, but Blake couldn’t take his eyes off of him.  He breathed in Adam’s scent, and his blue eyes darkened in lust.

Adam sagged in disappointment.  Then he abruptly straightened again, fists clenched and teeth bared, recognizing the way Blake was looking at him.  “No.  No, Blake!  Don’t touch me again!  If you’re too much of a coward to fight me, then let me fight your generals!  I’ll take them all on, one after another, and if I win, you leave me alone!  Leave me alone, Blake!”  He backed away, pressing himself against the wall.  “Blake!  Give me a chance!”

Blake only turned his head and gave a sharp whistle.  A moment later, a beta entered, dropping to her knees in front of the Pack Alpha.  “Have my mate brought back to my chambers and prepare him for me.  You better get a lot of help,” he added as Adam yelled in frustration.  As she ran to obey, he turned and gave Adam a wink.  “Don’t hurt them too badly, huh?  Remember, they’re just doing their job.  Oh, and this time, I’ll make sure to put that gag back on before I fall asleep.”

Chapter Text

When Blake finally entered the meeting hall to meet with his generals, they actually stood and applauded, complete with cheers and whistles.  Blake rolled his eyes and curtsied, getting a laugh.  “What time is it?”

“Nearly 1300,” Gwen told him.

He grimaced.  “I know, y’all.  I should have been in here hours ago,” he apologized, dropping into his chair.  “But Adam is…”  He ruefully shook his head.  “Dammit, I just can’t get enough of him!  I’ve had him for hours now, and I still want more.  I finally had to lock him back up in the dungeon just to force myself to come down here.”

“Hey, we get it,” Usher called.  As usual, he was relaxing in his chair, one leg propped up across the other.  “We’ve all been busy with our own.  I mean, with this new one I just got, I’ve got three omegas now!  I’m amazed I can walk!”

“My new omega is absolutely delicious,” Christina added.  “Such a sweet, obedient little thing!  She made this dress for me!”  She smiled, hands smoothing her dress.  “They grow omegas nice in the west, don’t they?”

“Adam’s a beauty, there’s no denying that.  But I have to admit, I didn’t expect to see you claiming him, Blake,” Gwen said.  “When I presented him, after what he’d done?  I expected you to either kill him outright, or rape him right there in the hall and then kill him like you did his mother.  I was stunned when I realized you were going to bite him!  You'd never claimed an omega before, and of all that we captured, the one you chose was...?”

“Yeah, well, I never expected this,” Blake mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck, embarrassed.  “I really think he’s my true mate.”

This was met with incredulous looks.

“Blake?” Usher began.  “Your new omega may be beautiful, but have you looked in the mirror lately?”  He indicated the bandages on Blake’s neck and ear.  “Look at what he did to you!  He isn’t true mate material!”

“I’m afraid I have to agree,” Pharrell said, nodding.  “Do you really think an omega like that would be a good mother to your pups?”

“I know that I intend to find out!” Blake retorted, suddenly irritated.  “Enough about Adam.  Gwen, what’s been going on?  Fill me in.”

For the next few hours, Blake discussed business with his generals.  There was, as he’d expected, an enormous amount of work ahead of him.  Already, there were squabbles cropping up over dividing up the new lands and the bounty of spoils they’d captured.  By the third hour, Blake had a headache.  “Listen,” he said over the argument going on between Gwen and Christina over a water source.  “I think that the only fair way to settle this thing is to have the head alpha of both of the families trying to claim that water face off.  Winner gets the water.  We can find a slightly less desirable water source to appease the loser.”

“A death match?” Pharrell asked, sounding surprised.

“No, not a death match!” Blake snapped waspishly.  “You know, it is possible to fight without killing each other.”

Christina snorted.  “It’s also possible to kill without meaning to.”

“Well then, they need to make a conscious effort.”  Blake rubbed at his temples.  “The bottom line is, we are talking about two family heads that have equal rank in this pack.  That’s about to change.  Once we’ve established dominance, we can move forward.”

The four generals grew quiet, glancing at each other.  Finally, Gwen dared to breech the subject.  “Blake,” she began, “are you sure you can handle settling this like that?”

“What’s to handle?” Blake asked, his voice a little too loud.  “It’s an issue involving two family groups who are going to be given a chance to handle it among themselves.”

“All I’m saying is, and I know I speak for us all,” Gwen looked around, seeing the encouraging nods, “is that you’re reestablishing a precedence for a custom that you worked very hard to abolish when you first became Pack Alpha.  I just want you to think hard about it, and make sure it’s what you really want to do.  With your own family’s history…”

Blake pounded his clenched fist on the table with such violence that his mug spilled.  “I’ve made my decision!  The alphas will fight it out and that’s how we’ll settle this dispute.  End of discussion!”  He grimaced, picking up his mug.  Good thing it was almost empty.  Still, the waste of good beer was depressing.  “Perfect.  Aw hell, my brain is fried anyway.  Do you think maybe we can table the rest of this for now?  I very much would like a break.”

Christina gave him a knowing smile.  “Wanting to get back to your omega, Blake?”

“Yes, but I would also like to eat.  I’ve been making sure he’s eating but, well, I kind of haven’t been thinking much about my stomach lately.” 

“We all know where most of your blood flow has gone to today,” Usher teased.  “Don’t worry, I have the same problem.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Too bad mine won’t submit, though.  It’s never as good when you have to tie them down.”  Blake chuckled, looking at his generals.  “Y’all know Adam wants to fight you?”

That got their attention.  “Fight us?” Christina asked, incredulously.  “Your omega has a death wish?  Just beat it out of him, Blake!”

“Well, mostly he wants to fight me,” Blake corrected.  “He actually said that if I beat him in a fair fight, he’d agree to be my mate.  Willingly.”

Pharrell raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, nodding.  “I say do it.  If you do kill him by mistake, well, he’s only a prisoner of war.  Right now, we have plenty to choose from.  Just form a second bond first, so losing the first isn't so traumatic, and you'll be fine.”

“Go back to the part about him fighting us,” Gwen urged.  “When we beat him, he becomes your willing mate?”

Blake sighed and shook his head.  “I actually don’t know what he was thinking to offer for when you beat him.  At that point, fighting with Adam was not the physical activity I had in mind.  But before that, all he said was that if he beat you, I had to leave him alone.”

That produced a laugh at the table.  “Lube, Blake!” Christina advised.  “Use some.  Your poor omega must be getting sore!”

“He’s sore, alright, but it doesn’t have anything to do with that,” Blake grumbled.  “Trust me, his body responds.  Adam is the best piece of ass I have ever had!”  He shook his head.  “I just wish he’d stop fighting me all the damned time.  It would be nice to just be able to kiss him once, you know?  But I gotta gag the little bastard, or…”  He motioned to his ear.

“You definitely should have beaten him for that,” Gwen growled.  “True mate or not, that’s twice he’s injured you now!”

“I know,” Blake snapped.  “I was serious about what I said, though.  I think he’s my true mate.  That means he feels it, too.  I’m telling you, the way his body responds?  It’s like he’s waited for me his whole life!  If he’d let himself feel it, it could be so different.  But he won’t stop fighting me long enough to let it happen!”

Pharrell was looking thoughtfully at Christina.  “Blake?” he called.  “What if you let him fight?”

Everyone turned to stare at Pharrell.  “I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘let,’ Pharrell,” Usher pointed out.  “He’s been fighting from the start!  Look what he did to Blake!”

But Pharrell was shaking his head.  “That’s not what I mean.  Back when Gwen presented him, he was going on about how he wanted to fight Blake.  And from the sound of it, that’s still his goal.  But now he’s offering to fight the four of us.  So why not let him?”  He leaned forward.  “Blake, what if you tried this: Tell him you’re going to give him a chance to earn a fight with one of us, but first he has to do something in return.  You never got to kiss him?  Well, in exchange for a kiss, a real one, with no biting you?  He gets to fight Christina.”

“No way!” Christina exclaimed, holding up her hands and wrinkling her face in disgust.  “I’m not fighting an omega!  What’s next, a death match against a beta?!”

“This is no ordinary omega, Christina,” Gwen said.  Her eyes were narrowed as she considered the implications of what Pharrell was suggesting.  “They didn’t tell me this until after Adam attacked Blake, but when they captured him?  I lost three minor alphas!”

Christina shrugged.  “So?  Adam Levine was Pack Alpha Levine’s youngest son, and an omega.  Of course he’d have bodyguards!”

“No,” Gwen corrected.  “Adam didn’t have any bodyguards.  He faced down my men alone.  It was Adam who killed those alphas, Christina.  All by himself!”

Christina looked interested now.  “Really?  An omega that can fight?”  She smiled.  “Well, now!  That might be something to see!”

“So, you’ll agree to it, Christina?” Pharrell pressed.  “If Adam agrees to let Blake kiss him, you’ll agree to the fight?”

The tiny alpha thought it over, twirling one of her blonde locks in her fingers.  Finally, she nodded.  “Alright.  And I promise I’ll try not to kill him, Blake.  I won’t promise he’ll be in any shape to breed afterwards, though.”

“You know, Pharrell, that might actually work!” Blake exclaimed.  He beamed at his general.  “See, this is why I keep you around.  You’re cute AND smart!”

Pharrell groaned.  “Dude, just go back to your omega, ok?” he laughed.  “And enjoy that kiss!  Hopefully, after Christina beats him, he’ll settle down and start acting like a real omega.”

Chapter Text

Blake practically ran to the dungeon, eager to see his mate and put Pharell’s plan into motion.  At his request, Adam had been provided with more food and drink.  The empty dishes were piled as close to the door as Adam had been able to push them.  The omega himself was seated against the far wall, beneath the ring his chain was attached to.  His legs were pulled up and his arms rested on them.  In his hands he held his chain, idly running the links through his fingers as he stared into space.  He didn’t get up when he saw Blake, but his eyes narrowed, watching the alpha as he approached.

Blake leaned on the bars and looked in.  He’d done what he could to make his mate comfortable.  An old, tattered fur rug now covered the floor of the cell, protecting Adam from the cold dirt floor.  At Blake’s request, Adam had been provided with a wooden tub of warm water and allowed to take a proper bath.  Afterwards, he’d been tied securely down so that the beta servants could trim his hair and tame the stubble on his face.  No one had been stupid enough to attempt to shave the fiery omega, so at least this time there hadn’t been any casualties.  After the bath and grooming, Adam had been permitted to dress.  Blake had managed to get Adam’s own clothing delivered from the cave where he’d been hiding and had them cleaned.  For the first time, the omega was properly dressed.  A white t-shirt showed off his tattooed arms.  Tight jeans accented his slender waist, narrow hips, and slim legs.  Blake had even given him back his boots.  The effect of these gifts was that Adam hadn’t caused nearly as many injuries as he usually did when anyone tried to manhandle him.  The worst injuries had been when the servants, who had obviously unchained him for the care and to don his shirt, had chained him back up again.

Adam’s body was showing the effects of his continued efforts to escape.  Both of his wrists were scabbed and bruised.  Blake had little doubt his ankles were the same.  The short sleeves of his t-shirt showed the bruises on his arms, peeking out from among the assortment of tattoos.  Blake knew that his ribs and waist also bore their own assortment of bruises.  They, like the marks on his arms, were the result of struggling against the beta servants while they tried to move him from place to place.  There were more bruises on his neck under the collar.  Many of them had probably been caused this morning, during Adam’s aborted attempt to charge at Blake.  But Blake was aware of how much Adam fought against being led anywhere on a leash.  The bruising on his face was starting to fade, though, weres being quick healers.  He was clean and groomed, dressed in clothing that fit.  Overall, despite the injuries, Adam looked stunning.  Blake paused, leaning on the bars, drinking him in.

“Back to rape me some more, Shelton?” Adam called wearily, his eyes on the chain in his hands.  “I see how you’re looking at me.  Can’t get enough of your new sex toy, huh?”  He gave a bitter smile.  “Why won’t you leave me alone?  What’s the matter, can’t you get any willing omegas from your own pack to ride your knot?”

“I’m not here for that.  Not yet,” he amended.  “Right now, I just wanna talk.  I’ve got a deal for you.”

Adam idly gave him the finger.  “That’s what I have to say about your deal.”

“I suggest you listen before you say no.”

“I suggest you go fuck yourself.”

Blake shrugged.  “Ok, suit yourself.  Hell, you suggested the deal, but if ya wanna be an idiot about it…”

Adam sharply looked up.  “Wait, what?  I suggested the deal?  Ok, what are you talking about?”

“Nah, I’m gonna go fuck myself because ya don’t want to deal, rock star,” Blake drawled.  He brightened.  “Or better yet, how about I fuck you?  Where’s that beta?”

“Ok, stop!” Adam yelled.  He got to his feet and took a few steps forward, raising his hands.  “Seriously, stop!  I was a virgin before you forced yourself on me, remember?  I’m sore as hell!  Leave me alone.  I’m listening.  What’s the deal?”

In his mind, Blake did a little dance of glee.  Maybe this would work after all!  “You said you wanted to fight my generals, and if you win, I leave you alone.  You still want that?”

Adam narrowed his eyes.  His head cocked to one side, regarding Blake with suspicion.  “Yeah.  Yeah, I do.  What’s the catch?”

“Well, a couple of things.”  Blake smiled.  “First, you’ll fight my generals in order of rank.  That means Christina first, then Pharell, then Usher, and finally Gwen.  We’ll establish the prize for beating each one as they come up.  And if you beat Gwen, you get to fight me.”  His smile became wider.  “The terms for our fight, we already established.  Do they still hold?”

Adam nodded, still suspicious.  “I win, I kill you and run, and you win, I submit to being your mate.  Yeah, I’ll agree to that.  But I’m waiting to hear what you’re proposing as the prize with Christina.”

“Same thing, actually.  The prize is still you.  When she beats you, you submit to being my mate.”

Adam rolled his eyes.  “Oh, fuck you, Shelton!  The prize for your lowest-ranking general is the same as it would be for you?  You’re an idiot.”

Blake shrugged.  “Well, it seems to me that if you can’t beat Christina, then you certainly can’t beat me, so there’s no reason for that fight to even take place.  Therefore, you as the prize the whole way through makes perfect sense.  But you think I’m an idiot.”  He spread his hands and shrugged again.  “Ok, then I guess no deal.  Oh well.”

Blake turned and started to walk away.  It was a gamble, but one he was willing to try.  Never before had he ever even considered bartering with an omega.  But Adam wasn’t like other omegas.  For the first time, Blake realized that his mate needed to be treated closer to the way he’d treat a captured alpha.  Forcing his will on Adam wasn’t working out so well.  But maybe treating him with respect, giving him choices, would?

Adam groaned in frustration.  “Ok, stop!” he called.  “Whatever, I’ll submit to being your mate if she beats me.  And if I win, you leave me the fuck alone!”

Blake came back to the bars, looking sly.  “For how long?”

Adam grimaced.  “Damn, Big Country, you’re not as dumb as you look.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.  How long do I have to leave you alone if you win?”

Adam raised his chin.  “A week.”

“A week?!”  Blake snorted.  “Bullshit!  A day.”

“Five days.”

“Two.”

Adam threw his hands in the air again.  “Oh for fuck’s sake, three days!”

Blake smiled.  “Two.”

“Come on, work with me here!  Three’s a reasonable compromise!”

Blake crossed his arms over his chest.  “Two.  To be perfectly honest, Adam, I don’t think I’m capable of leaving you alone for more than two days.  I’ll be hard pressed to make it that long!”

Adam scowled.  “Fine!  If I win, you have to leave me alone for two days, two full days of twenty-four hours each, total of forty-eight hours.  That means you don’t touch me, you don’t scent me, you don’t leer at me, you don’t even come near me!  I don’t have to see your face, hear your voice, or smell your scent for the full forty-eight hours!  That’s the deal.”

“One more thing.”

Adam face palmed.  “I should have fucking known…  Ok, what’s the one more thing?”

Blake took a deep breath and prepared for the kill.  “Christina is a prime alpha, one of my generals.  She’s torn the throats out of weres twice her size!  But Christina doesn’t fight alphas on a whim, and she sure as hell isn’t about to happily agree to fight an omega!  I’ll have to order her to do it.  So that means, if you want me to set up this match for you?  You have to give me something in return.”

Adam looked up warily.  “And what would that be?”

Blake licked his lips.  “A kiss.  A real one, where you don’t fight me or bite.  You don’t even have to kiss me back!  But you let it happen.  You let me kiss you.  Do that, and I’ll set up the match with Christina.”

Adam’s body tensed.  “No.  I won’t agree to that.”

Blake’s heart fell.  He wanted to howl and shake the bars in frustration, but years of seasoning as a warrior kept his expression from changing.  Instead he shrugged nonchalantly.  “Too bad, then,” he said.  “You know, I think I would have actually enjoyed watching that fight.”  Once more, he turned and started to walk away.

Blake made it all the way to the door leading out of the dungeons and was about to open the door when Adam finally cracked.  “Wait!  Come back.  Let’s talk about this.”

With his back to the omega, Blake allowed himself a grin of triumph.  But his face was carefully schooled into neutrality when he turned around to face Adam again.  “Ok, let’s talk,” he began, moving back to the cell.  He casually stretched his arms, taking hold of the bars, and crossed one booted foot over the other, looking for all the world like he had all day to chat.

Inside the cell, Adam was pacing restlessly, but he stopped for some reason, staring at Blake.  His face was a mask of indecision.  “Ok, define kiss,” he said.  “What do you mean, like…?”

“I mean a kiss, dumbass!” Blake said, exasperated.  “What else would it mean?  You open your mouth a little and I put mine on yours and my tongue goes in and you don’t fucking bite me!  I get to taste you.  I get to breathe you in, and you let me do it!  A kiss, Adam!  Let me kiss you!”

Adam flinched.  He stood tense and still, his eyes moving in little trapped circles as his jaw worked.  “For how long?”

Blake rolled his eyes.  “Oh for…!  Grr, ok, um, how about sixty seconds?  You can time it if you want.  After sixty seconds, I stop.  But you don’t attack me!  If I go over or get too carried away, you can push me away.”  His eyes narrowed.  “But if at any time through this you start fighting?  Not only is the deal off, but I will beat the everloving shit out of you!  Do I make myself clear?!”

Adam’s chin rose in defiance.  “You mean you’ll try!”

Blake smacked his hands against the bars.  “Dammit, Adam!  Do I have to tie you down for this?!”

“No!” Adam yelled.  “You tie me down, or try to force me in any way, and no deal!  If we’re going to do this, then we do it just like this, right here, and right now!”

Blake’s eyes were an electric blue as he looked at the omega.  “Then, you agree?”

“I let you kiss me, open mouth, for sixty seconds, and in return, you set up my match with Christina?” Adam asked.  “On the terms we discussed?”

“She wins, you submit to being my mate, and you win, I leave you alone for forty-eight hours,” Blake confirmed.  “But if you fight me, no match, and you get the beating of your life!  Do we have a deal, Rockstar?”

Adam rolled his lower lip into his mouth and started pacing again, thinking hard.  The very thought of Blake touching him again in any way revolted him.  To have Blake kiss him, to allow it to happen, made his stomach turn.  But two days, two glorious days of Blake not being anywhere near him would be worth it.

Of course, chances were high that the murdering, raping alpha would simply renege on his end of the deal and have Adam dragged back to his chambers again as soon as the fight was over.  Hell, Blake had already made it clear that he planned on raping him at least once more today, even after the marathon Adam had been forced to endure this morning.  Was he willing to take the chance?

Did he have any choice?

Deciding he didn’t, Adam swallowed hard.  Then he sharply nodded his head.  “I agree.  Get in here and let’s get this over with.”

Blake had to clench his teeth to keep from whooping with joy.  He quickly grabbed the key to Adam’s cell and opened the door.  He was so excited that for a moment, he forgot himself.  Fortunately, his senses returned just a moment before he would have been in Adam’s reach.  Then he chuckled and turned around to pull the cell door closed.  Blake held up the key to the cell and made a show of dropping it outside the bars, reaching his long arms to ensure it would be out of Adam’s reach even if Adam could reach the bars.  And then he reached into his pocket, produced the keys to the locks on Adam’s chain, and threw them through the bars, watching as they landed on the other side of the room.  “Wouldn’t want you to get any ideas, now,” he called, turning to face the omega.  “You’re not going to be using this kiss as a chance to pick my pockets and escape.”

One look at the fury and disgust on Adam’s face was enough to tell Blake he’d made the right choices.  Adam was glaring at the keys that rested well out of his reach, clenching and unclenching one hand while the other pulled on his collar.  So close!  “I fucking hate you, Blake!” he growled.

That hurt more than Blake cared to admit.  But the alpha refused to be deterred.  He moved closer to Adam. 

Adam’s eyes grew wide as the Pack Alpha loomed over him.  He hadn’t realized until now just how tall Blake actually was.  It wasn’t a scrawny, lanky tall, either.  Blake was solid.  His entire body radiated strength and power, and his scent, musky and dark, like the rugged countryside, was nearly overpowering.  Adam took an involuntary step back, fists rising automatically into a defensive stance. 

Blake quickly grabbed his wrists.  “No!” he warned.  “Remember the deal?  You don’t fight this, Levine!”

Adam was a picture of tense frustration.  He jerked his wrists free, and for a moment, Blake was almost sure the omega would take a swing.  But instead, Adam squared his shoulders and let his hands drop, unfisted, to his sides.  He refused to meet Blake’s eyes.  But he didn’t pull away.

Blake’s entire body was trembling in anticipation.  Reaching out, he gathered Adam into his arms and pulled him close for the kiss.

Adam swore savagely.  He ducked down and shoved at Blake’s chest, squirming free and quickly moving as far away from Blake as his chain allowed.  Growling, Blake caught Adam’s chain and pulled him back.  Adam dug in his heels, starting an impromptu tug of war with the chain.  “Stop!  Let me go!”

Grinding his teeth, Blake yanked on the chain with all his strength.  When Adam stumbled forward, Blake pulled him closer, grabbed his upper arms and shook him.  “Don’t fight me!” he yelled.  “What part of that are you not getting, Levine?”

“I’m not fighting!  You said I could push you away if you got carried away!”

“I barely touched you!  How the hell am I getting carried away?”

“You tried to hold me!” Adam yelled.  “You don’t get to hold me!  The deal was a kiss, and that’s it!  Now let go of me!”

With a roar of frustration, Blake let go.  “Dammit, Adam, I have to hold onto you somehow!  I’m not going to just lean down and give you a peck on the cheek!  Give me something here, would you?”

“Fine!” Adam spat.  “You can use your hands to hold onto my shoulders or my head.  But no more!  Don’t even think about pulling me close.  I’m not going to let you hold me like that, do you understand?!”

Blake bit back what he wanted to say to the willful omega.  Instead, he breathed hard through his nose.  “You know, I almost wish there was any chance you could beat Christina, just so I can include holding you without protest along with another kiss as the price for a match with Pharell!”

“Oh, is that how it’s going to work?  You take more and more from me for each subsequent match?”

“Forget it for now.  All I want is my kiss, Adam.  Are you going to let me kiss you?”

Adam grimaced again.  Then once more, the quick nod.

This time, Blake controlled himself.  He put his left hand on Adam’s shoulder and moved closer, cupping the back of Adam’s head with his right hand.  Adam shuddered.  Then he raised his face, presenting Blake with his mouth.  Blake was quick to accept the offering.  He sealed his lips over Adam’s and kissed him deeply, taking in the taste of his mate’s lips.  When his tongue brushed against Adam’s, the omega inhaled sharply.  But he didn’t pull away.  Adam’s hands remained at his side, allowing the kiss.  He was allowing it, his omega was submitting to the kiss and it was beautiful, the way the soft lips were pliant beneath his own, the way Adam leaned into it…

And then it hit Blake.  Adam was more than allowing the kiss.  Adam was kissing him in return!  Even as the shock of the realization washed over him, Blake could feel the omega’s tongue sliding along his, moving into Blake’s mouth as Adam leaned further into the kiss.  Adam’s slender hands came up until they gently rested against Blake’s chest, feather light, slowly moving up until he gently gripped Blake’s shoulders.  Adam exhaled into Blake’s mouth and Blake eagerly drew it in, sucking Adam’s breath from his lungs even as the hand on Adam’s shoulder moved of its own accord, sliding down, pulling Adam closer…

Adam abruptly jerked his head, tearing his mouth away from Blake’s.  His hands shoved at the tall alpha, pushing Blake back.  “Sixty seconds!” Adam declared.  “Now get away from me.  Go set up my fight with Christina.  Go!”  And with that, Adam retreated to the wall, laid down with his back to Blake, and curled up into the fetal position.

For a moment, Blake didn’t move.  He only stood as he was, swaying slightly on his feet from the intensity of the kiss, wide blue eyes blinking in shock.  He licked his lips, tasting Adam again.  Then he simply turned around, collected the keys, let himself out, and locked the door behind him.

Chapter Text

When the door to the dungeon opened, Adam looked up, hopeful to see Blake for the first time since he’d been captured.  It had nothing to do with the odd, overwhelming compulsion he’d momentarily given in to when he’d allowed Blake to kiss him.  That was something he’d been trying not to think about.  The way Blake had looked when he’d stretched his arms out and leaned on the bars, so casual and at ease.  The way his blue buttoned down shirt had enhanced the blue of his eyes.  How sexy those long legs looked in the denim jeans, or the way his calf had flexed when he’d crossed them.  Those damnable dimples!  More and more, Adam was forced to face the undeniable fact that he was physically attracted to the Pack Alpha. 

But of course, most of that was simple biology.  Adam had neither wanted nor welcomed Blake’s claiming bite.  It’s not like he could have stopped it.  But his omega knew what to do once the gland at the base of his neck had been pierced.  Right from the start, his body had responded, accepting the bond with an eagerness that rattled Adam to his core.  What Blake had said that first night, infuriating though it had been, had hit home. 

It’s like you were waiting for me. 

In a way, the Pack Alpha was right.  Despite the claims from his rejected suitors that he was frigid or asexual, Adam was open to being claimed.  But his pride wouldn’t allow him to settle for just anyone.  What both he and his omega had been longing for was a mate of strength.  Someone powerful.  An alpha among alphas.  And from the moment he’d seen Blake, Adam had known that the Pack Alpha was exactly what he’d been looking for.  Even as he’d struggled, subconsciously fighting his own biology just as he fought his captors, his omega had cried out in longing for Blake.

And Blake had answered.

Could Blake Shelton, the monster from the east, really be my true mate?  

It didn’t matter.  Blake was a monster, and nothing, not even Adam’s own body, would cause him to see the Pack Alpha as anything else.  Since he’d been claimed, Blake had certainly given him little reason to change his opinion.  Even when he wasn’t being assaulted, Adam was treated as little more than an object.  He was constantly locked up, chained, or tied down.  Adam hated it.  The helplessness was bad enough.  What made it worse was the simple fact that he did not have the temperament to be able to tolerate being held immobile for long periods of time.  When Blake left him alone, he’d been stuck in this cell for hours with nothing at all to occupy his time.  Adam was going out of his mind with boredom.  It was so bad that he would almost welcome being dragged back to Blake’s chambers.  But that was just a wild thought to relieve the tedium.  It had nothing to do with how his body reacted now simply to the presence of Blake’s scent in the room. 

Besides, every time they brought him to Blake’s chambers, they tied him down.  Adam hated being tied down nearly as much as he hated what Blake would do to him.  There was nothing, absolutely nothing that he could do to prevent Blake from doing whatever he wanted, for as long as he wanted to do it.  This morning was proof enough of that.  Blake had taken him again and again, leaving him feeling battered and sore and used and completely miserable.  Between assaults, Blake had continued his annoying habit of napping on top of Adam.  He would snooze anywhere from a few minutes to all night while Adam lay trapped and immobile beneath his weight.  Rousing Blake from his slumber often resulted in another assault.  But even without Blake there, the fact was that getting tied down for long periods of time hurt, especially since he was so stretched out.  Adam’s limbs ached from the strain.  Eventually he’d get cramps.  But Blake left him gagged now, meaning he couldn’t even complain.  No, he didn’t want to see Blake for any part of his company.

The only thing Adam wanted was confirmation.  Adam wanted to know that the fight with Christina would really happen.  That he’d have the chance at last to prove he was a warrior, not some pretty little thing to be used any time Blake got urges.  Adam wanted a chance to fight.  He’d been itching for it, a chance to show his power, vent some frustration, and in the process, earn two whole days of freedom from Blake and his unceasing demands on Adam’s body.  He’d also been thinking about his next fight, and what his terms would be.  Now that he knew Blake would up the price for every fight, he fully intended to increase his own in response.  With plenty of time to think about it, he’d come up with some ideas.  So when Adam heard the dungeon door open, that, and only that, was why he’d bounded to his feet like a happy puppy, moving as close to the bars as his chain would allow, eager to see the Pack Alpha.

But it wasn’t Blake.  A slender, brown-haired beta had entered the dungeon.  Not again.  With a groan of dismay, Adam retreated to the back of the cell.  “No, dammit!” he yelled.  “Leave me alone!  Go back to Blake and tell him that the least he could do is give me a damned answer before he ties me down again!”

The beta’s eyebrows shot up.  “Ties you down again?  Oh, how the mighty have fallen!”

The voice was deep and familiar, as was the beta’s face.  Adam took another look, and his eyes widened in surprise.  “Carson?  Carson!”  Adam quickly moved back up as close as his chain would allow, a wide smile of relief and welcome on his face.  “Oh, Carson, I am so glad to see you!  Get me out of here, buddy!  Do you have the keys to my collar?”

Carson looked at Adam, face expressionless.  “I do not.”

“Shit!  Ok, we’ll have to improvise.  I need you to find something I can use to pick the lock, or else something sharp and sturdy enough to cut through the leather.  The keys to the cell are right there, so that’s all we need.  Once you get this collar off of me, we’re home free!”  Adam paused, looking impatiently at the motionless beta.  “Dammit, Carson, what are you waiting for?  Get moving!  Hurry up and help me, before Blake comes back!”

“Help you?” Carson asked.  “Why on Earth would I help you?”

Adam blinked.  “Isn’t that why you’re here?  To get me out?”

“No,” Carson replied.  “I came to see you humbled, Adam.  Seeing the great Adam Levine like this, brought low, humiliated, treated like an animal?  It’s got to be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

Adam was stunned.  He’d grown up with Carson, as the beta was a personal servant of Adam’s mother.  For a beta to speak to him like this, especially one he knew, was unthinkable.  For a moment, Adam could only stand frozen in shock, mouth agape and eyes bulging.  Staring at Carson.  Wounded by someone he’d never expected would hurt him, just when he was at his lowest.  He shook his head.  “Carson, what’s wrong with you?  I need you, man!  Get me out of here!  Please, help me!”

“Ooo, that’s new,” Carson observed.  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard one of you mongrels beg before, at least not to someone like me.”  He clasped his hands behind his back, approaching the cell.  Standing near the bars, he appeared to inspect Adam.  “Maybe being captured has done you some good?”

Adam sputtered.  “Good?  Don’t you know what Blake does to me?!”

“No,” Carson replied.  “When they sacked the city, they killed most of the betas.  I have a lot of skills from my work with your mother, so I was spared.  When they burned the city down, they parceled me out with the rest of the spoils.  My new owner brought me here and immediately put me to work.”  The beta suddenly looked weary.  “I’m starting to think that the plan is to simply work me to death, to be honest.  I’ve been a bit too busy to pay much attention to anything else.  Tell me, what does he do?”

Adam tilted his head, displaying the bite on his neck.  “This!  He forced a bond on me, Carson, and then he flat-out forced me!”  He grimaced at the memory.  “He’s been tying me to his bed and raping me ever since.  When you first came in here, I thought you’d come to drag me back for more.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Carson said, looking down.  “So even with all your fighting skills, they parceled you out as a spoil of war too, huh?  And Blake claimed you.”  He sighed.  “I suspected as much, based on your earlier comment.  I can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m sorry.  That isn’t something I’d wish on anyone, even you.”

“Then help me, Carson!  Get me out of here!”

“While I’m sorry to hear what’s been done to you, I still don’t have enough of a reason to help you,” Carson said calmly.  “Keep going.  What other reason can you give me?”

“How about this?” Adam exclaimed, tugging at his collar.  “He keeps me chained up and locked in a cell!”

“So?”

“So, it’s humiliating!  It’s degrading!  It’s like…”

“…Like you’re a creature of no real worth?” Carson supplied.  “Like your only value is based on what you can offer, rather than who you are?  Like you’re being pushed down by a giant hand, held back and given only scraps because no one will ever even entertain the idea that you can be anything else outside of the lowly, submissive role you’ve been forced into, based solely on your physical characteristics on the day you were born?”

Once again, relief flooded Adam.  “Carson, I couldn’t have said that better.  When did you get so eloquent?  You’ve got it exactly!”  He smiled warmly.  “Now you’ll help me, right?”

Carson smiled back.  “No.”

Adam sputtered.  “Why, Carson?  You get it!  You understand what this is like for me, what I’m going through.  Why won’t you help me?”

Carson’s pleasant expression melted, transforming to reveal what had been present all along – pure rage.  “Because you never helped me!” he hissed through clenched teeth.  “Do you remember Susanna?  The woman I loved?”

“Um…  I’m sorry, Carson,” Adam stammered.  “I don’t know who that is.”

“Of course not!” Carson snapped.  “Why would you?  She was only a beta!  So what if I loved her?  It didn’t matter that the alpha who owned her beat her and abused her.  It didn’t matter when he finally went too far and killed her!  She begged me to help her, too, you know.  And I tried, Adam.  I knew I was helpless to do anything myself, so I went to the bitch you called mother.  And when he laughed at my plight and wouldn’t lift a finger, I went to you.”  Carson leaned closer to the bars.  “Do you remember what you said?”

Adam had to keep himself from taking a step back.  He’d never before experienced such menace coming from a mere beta.  “No,” he confessed.  “I don’t remember anything about this at all.”

“Let me refresh your memory.  When I begged you for help, you were just starting to train with a new warrior, and the old one was still angry you’d refused him.  That occupied all of your waking thoughts.  So when I was on my hands and knees at your feet, kissing your boots and begging you for help, you barely paid attention.  I was begging, crying, desperate for you to help Susanna before that bastard killed her.  But you couldn’t be bothered, Adam!  All you did was roll those pretty hazel eyes of yours and say, ‘It’s not like you can bond with her anyway, Carson.  If he kills her, just find another one.’  And then you turned your back on me and went on your way.  You never looked back.  And three weeks later, she was dead!  Even now, with me telling you this, you barely remember, do you?”

Adam found he couldn’t meet Carson’s eyes.  Since the Great Human War, when the fighting had been so intense that the clouds themselves had turned to mushrooms and rained poison on all the land, the weres had ruled unchallenged.  As poison ravaged the planet, only the alphas and omegas had been strong enough to breed, the humans dying out or becoming sterile.  It hadn’t been easy.  Today, only the remnants of broken buildings and debris remained of the humans, creatures that had once had the technology to reach the moon or decipher the code of life itself.  But at least now, the land and its inhabitants were recovering.  One out of three livestock births survived, and some lands, like those in Adam’s former territory, could nourish crops that would grow unmutated and still edible.  Among the weres, it was only in the last couple of generations that most litters, which typically contained half a dozen pups, usually had at least one alpha or omega pup.  The rest were all weak, sterile, scentless betas.  With such a high birthrate, it was hard not to think of betas as disposable.  It was surprising that Blake had cautioned Adam not to hurt them too much.  All his life, Adam had taken betas for granted. 

Now a beta was refusing to help him when he needed it the most.

“I’m sorry, Carson,” Adam said.  “I don’t remember, and I don’t understand.  There are so many betas!  It’s why we purge them every so often, or rather father did.  I understand Susanna must have meant something to you, but I don’t understand why you won’t help me now!  She’s dead, but I’m here.  I’m right here, Carson, and I’m trapped and I desperately need you to help me!”

“You stupid, arrogant cur!” Carson snarled.  “Too blind to see what’s right in front of your eyes!  You don’t even know who I really am, do you?  Of course not,” he went on when Adam mutely shook his head.  “Well, I’ll tell you.  You and I are brothers, born from the same litter.  There were seven of us including you, and while you were whisked to a life of luxury where our smitten father let you do whatever you wanted, I was made into a slave, and the rest of our brothers and sisters were ‘purged’ for population control.  Seven pups, Adam, and only you and I left alive!  We are full blooded brothers, yet I’m a slave to be used and abused, while you’ve always gotten anything you wanted!  But now?”  Carson’s eyes glittered.  “Now, you finally have a chance to understand.  Because what I described to you so eloquently?  How it feels to be a prisoner of war, the spoil of conquest, stripped of all rights?  That is precisely how I feel every single day of my life!  And it won’t change, Adam.  I have no hope of a better life.  But you do.  You knew freedom before, and you can know it again if you want.”

“How?”

Carson scoffed.  “You really have to ask?  It’s simple.  Submit.  Stop fighting, and he’ll stop chaining you up like this.  Lay down like a good little omega, and Blake will give you anything you want.”

“No!” Adam exclaimed.  “I won’t live like that!  I can’t stand it!”

“No?  Well guess what, brother!  I have no choice!”  He calmed, eyeing Adam with satisfaction.  “And now, neither do you.”

“Carson, wait!” Adam cried, seeing Carson turn to go.  “I’m sorry!  I get it now, I understand!  I hated the way I was treated by the alphas, but I never thought…  I didn’t…”  He shook his head.  “I treated you just as badly or worse than the alphas treated me.  I can’t change society, Carson, but I can try to make things better.  Just please, don’t leave me here, Carson!  Please help me!”

“I’m going now,” Carson called.  His mask of cheerfulness was back in place.  “I heard there are places, out in the wilderness, where betas have colonies.  Away from you breeders.  Places we can live in peace on our own terms.  With luck, I’ll find one.  But even if I die searching?  I’ll die knowing that my brother, our father’s youngest and most favored among those he deigned to acknowledge, was brought low.  I got to see you in your darkest moment.  And it was glorious!”

“Carson!”

Carson rolled his eyes.  “Don’t beg anymore, Adam, it doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m not going to beg.  I just wanted to say, I hope you find it.”  Adam’s voice was quiet, but sincere.  “I hope you find that colony.”

“Thank you,” Carson replied.  “As for me, I hope your collar chokes you.  I hope you suffocate behind those bars.  I hope your alpha beats you over and over until your spirit is as broken as your body.  And I hope you die, alone and unloved, just as I probably will.”

Carson opened the door and paused.  He looked back at Adam, taking in the sight of the omega as he stood gripping his collar with one hand, the other clenched at his side.  Adam’s eyes were dull as he looked back at the beta.  Carson smiled.  “Goodbye, Adam Levine.”  And with that, he went out the door and was gone.

Chapter Text

To Blake’s surprise, the beta servants had a much easier time with his willful mate when he ordered them to bring Adam to his chambers that evening.  Adam still struggled, yelled, and did everything possible to prevent it when they’d dragged him back into Blake’s chambers.  But he hadn’t seriously injured anyone.  The betas suffered a few cuts and bruises, that was all.  It seemed that, rather than going into full attack mode as he’d always done before, Adam’s resistance was taking the form of trying to squirm and pull free.  Most of the injuries the betas received were from Adam’s attempts to push them away, and most of those happened while tying the omega down to Blake’s bed.  Still, it was an amazing change.  Maybe it had something to do with the gauze he’d ordered the betas to wrap around Adam’s wrists and ankles to help protect them from the leather cuffs?  But Adam had been acting different before that happened.  Blake didn’t know what to think.

Unfortunately, Adam’s new reluctance to do serious injury apparently applied only to the betas, as Blake found out.  Adam had fought him every step of the way while they had sex, just as he always had, even though his body remained as responsive and seemingly willing as ever.  And as usual, once Blake had knotted him, Adam lapsed into an angry, resentful silence.  Thinking some good news would help, Blake had taken the gag out of Adam’s mouth to speak to him while they waited out his knot.  He’d told Adam that Christina had accepted the duel.  Blake had expected Adam to be pleased.  Instead, Blake had reason to be glad of his war-honed reflexes, which had pulled his head back a moment before Adam lunged up, his jaws snapping shut where Blake’s nose had been a moment before.  “You son of a bitch!” Adam yelled.  “You left me all day, let me believe she’d refused or you’d played me for a fool!  I thought I wouldn’t get to fight, even though I’d let you…”  He swallowed hard.  “Would it have killed you to let me know she’d accepted?”

“What the hell difference does it make?”

“It’s a matter of respect, Blake!  It’s acknowledging that I’m more than a thing.  I’m not just a toy to be used and then discarded until you’re ready to play with me again, dammit!  It would have required so little from you, and meant so much to me!  This is why I will never stop fighting you, Blake.  Because you just don’t get it!”

“You’ll stop fighting when Christina beats you tomorrow,” Blake pointed out, shoving the gag roughly back into Adam’s mouth.  “That was the deal.  She’ll face you tomorrow, and it’s going to be public.”  As usual, Adam was making it hard for Blake to get the gag buckled into place, but that was expected.  He managed it and grabbed Adam by the hair, turning his head to face him.  “You know, you have quite a reputation among the western omegas,” he began, frowning.  “Usher told me today that his new omega has been telling the other two that she thinks you have a real chance to win this fight.  All the new omegas are saying it, and it’s got our omegas having wild ideas.  They’re getting mouthy, surly, and it’s upsetting the dynamic of the whole pack!  So tomorrow, we’re gathering everyone in the public square.  You’ll fight Christina in front of the whole pack, and end this bullshit once and for all!”

To Blake’s surprise, Adam actually smiled.  As soon as Blake let go of his hair, he turned his face away and closed his eyes.  Grumbling, Blake got comfortable on top of his mate and soon fell asleep.

Despite being once again pinned under Blake’s weight, Adam smiled again into the darkness.  Tomorrow.  He would fight The Slasher tomorrow.  He could hardly wait.

****

The next morning, Adam was a ball of energy.  He squirmed and struggled in the bed under Blake until Blake finally woke up and had him taken back to the dungeon to be fed, cleaned and groomed.  Once Blake had completed his own morning routine, he headed to the dungeon to visit with his mate.  Blake hadn’t been able to touch his breakfast.  His stomach was a mass of butterflies.  How had it come to this?  How could he have agreed to let Adam fight Christina?  His beautiful omega had no idea what he was in for!

Christina was so easy to underestimate because of her size and seeming softness.  There had been times when she was downwind and had been mistaken for an omega.  But Blake knew all too well what the tiny alpha was capable of.  And Adam, his dear, precious mate, was headed for a trouncing like he’d never had before.  Blake’s heart ached, imaging those sweet hazel eyes going dull forever as Adam’s blood spread in a crimson tide from his broken body.  This was crazy!  He was risking his mate!  Hadn’t Christina said something about how easy it was to accidentally kill someone in a duel?  Sure, Adam may have somehow managed to get lucky and kill three incompetent minor alphas, but this was different.  Christina was a prime alpha, and one of the pack generals.  Adam didn’t stand a chance!  He had to stop this!

But when Blake arrived at Adam’s cell, the omega wasn’t alone.  Christina herself stood outside the cell, looking in through narrowed eyes.  When Blake entered, she dipped her head, acknowledging the Pack Alpha’s presence.  “Your mate has heard of me,” she said.  “He was about to tell me what he’s heard about why I’m called ‘The Slasher.’”

“When your pack proved itself a real threat, of course we got all the intel on the leaders we could,” Adam called.  He was standing, barefoot and shirtless, on the fur rug with his feet wide apart and his profile to the two alphas.  As Blake watched, he bent to the side, performing some odd stretch he held for a bit and then repeated on the other side.  “In your case,” Adam continued, “you’re called ‘The Slasher’ because of your fighting technique.”

“Go on,” Christina encouraged.  Blake wasn’t sure if she meant what Adam was saying, or what he was doing.  The female alpha’s eyes were fixed on Adam as he bent forward for a new stretch.  It made for an interesting view.  Her eyes gleamed, and Blake felt his hackles rise.  He took a sip from his ever present mug to swallow back the growl that threatened to rise in his throat.  This was Christina!  She would never try to take his mate.  She was only looking, and there was nothing wrong with admiring a lovely omega.  Settle down, Blake!

“Blake has four generals: The Destroyer, The Player, The Thinker, and The Slasher,” Adam continued, leaning into his stretch.  “If you two could stop staring at my ass, I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Listening!” Christina assured.  Blake noted her eyes did not stray from Adam.

“I’ll start with you.  Your fighting style revolves around two things: your size, and your quickness.”  Adam rose and began a series of slow, graceful movements.  The muscles in his arms and torso rippled with the movement, making his tattoos almost seem to come alive, and both alphas were mesmerized.  “In most cases, your size would put you at a serious disadvantage against me.  You’re 5’2, and I’m six feet tall.  But you know how to use that.  You come in low and fast, slip under your opponent’s guard, attack, and then duck back out.  Your signature move is to get behind your opponent and slash the tendons behind the knee, but you’ve gone for pretty much any opening.  It’s a slash and retreat technique.  Thus, you’re called The Slasher.”

Christina’s eyes were still fixed on Adam, but she was nodding, affording the omega some grudging respect.  “And how do you plan to counter?” she asked.

“Like I’d tell you?  I’m not an idiot!” Adam snapped sharply.  “You’ll find out soon enough.”  He’d gone into another move, graceful and supple, displaying his flexibility.  “Do you want to hear about the other three?  Or do you need to go spend some alone time to address the growing bulge between your legs?”

“You didn’t eat your breakfast,” Blake said, smoothly shifting the subject as Christina bristled.

“I don’t eat before a fight,” Adam replied.  “I drank the juice and some water, and that will be enough until afterwards.  Now I’m trying to relax and limber up.  It’s much easier to do without a couple of horny knotheads leering at me.”

“Seems to me, you’re showing off,” Christina said.  “You want to act like a little omega slut?  We have the right to enjoy the display.”

“I’m chained up in a cell.  My privacy options are limited,” Adam retorted.  “I was doing this well before you two walked in.”

She shrugged.  “You could have stopped?”

“You could have kissed my ass?  I have no intention of changing my routine for you.”

“I probably should have guessed you’d come here and warned you,” Blake told Christina.  “Adam is a complete bitch in the morning.”

Adam was doing a series of arm movements.  Not deviating from them, he closed his fists, allowing the middle fingers to jut out.

Christina was visibly fuming.  “You need to beat this bitch, Blake!” she complained.  “I’ve never been treated like this by an omega in my life!”

“That’s why today is happening,” Blake reminded her.  “Adam’s delusional.  He thinks he’s a warrior, and that he can act and be treated like a captured alpha!  So once you put him in his place, he’s going to be in for a real surprise.”  He had raised his voice, still talking to Christina, but his eyes were on Adam.  “He’ll have to learn how to be attentive to my needs, to respect other alphas, and to give up this stupid idea that he’s a warrior.  But I think he can keep doing whatever this is he’s doing here.  I like it!  Is there a name for it?”

“It’s called ‘yoga,’” Adam replied, nonplussed.  “It’s a human thing.  We had a building back home with human books, and some were still legible.  So I tried it, and it does the trick for me, so I kept it.  I learned a lot of things from human books.”  Apparently finished, Adam retrieved his socks, boots, and the button shirt he’d been given this morning.  “The whole point of yoga is to find your inner focus, but Christina’s been undressing me with her eyes since she walked in.  It’s hard to find inner focus with your skin crawling, you know?”

“You arrogant little…!  I’ll tell you what, Adam,” Christina said.  “How about we make a little side bet?  If you can beat me, not only will you get your two days from Blake, but I’ll kneel at your feet!  But when I win,” she stressed the word, “I get to hold you down while Blake fucks you, right there in the square in front of the entire pack!”

Blake’s eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline.  But Adam was calm as he carefully tied the laces on his boots.  “You do realize that if you beat me, I have to submit to Blake anyway?  That’s why Blake agreed to this in the first place.  There’s no need to hold me down.”

“I know!” Christina snapped.  “But I want to!  I want you to know exactly who it was that beat you, and I want to feel you squirm as Blake pounds you!  Deal?”

Adam snorted.  “Sounds like I’m not the only bitch this morning.”

Both Blake and Christina growled at that.  Irritated, Adam looked up.  “This is such bullshit!  You both called me that, but God help me if I slander an alpha!”  He slid his arms into his shirt.  “I’ll agree to letting you hold me down if I lose, Christina.  But there’s no need.  My pack has always been honorable and true to our word.  If I’m the last warrior of my pack, then it’s up to me to keep our traditions alive.  So I’ll honor my word.  That being said, Christina, it’s clear that the only thing you want to do is further humiliate me.  You also believe that I think the way you do.  That’s why you made that offer.  But I don’t want to see you kneel at my feet.  If I win, I want you to keel at Blake’s!”

Blake, who had been sipping at his mug during this exchange, did a spit take.  “Huh?!”

But Adam wasn’t finished.  He rose, fastening the last buttons on his shirt as he moved closer to the bars, his cool gaze on Christina.  “I want you to keel in front of Blake,” he said, “and I want you to declare in front of your pack that you will step down as general!”

Silence.  No one dared to breathe as Christina’s mouth gaped and the blood drained from her face.  Then her blue eyes blazed in fury.  Her lips curled back from her fangs in a chilling snarl.  “If you were an alpha?  I would kill you where you stood!”

Adam stood rock steady in the face of her fury.  “Do you agree to these terms?” he asked calmly.  “Otherwise, no deal.”

“You stupid, arrogant omega!” she spat.  “When I beat you to a bleeding, whimpering mess and teach you what you really are?  I can hold you down anyway, deal or no deal!  There wouldn’t be anything you could do to stop me!”

“That’s true,” Adam replied, still calm.  “I can’t fight you both, and I certainly can’t take on your entire pack.”  His hand moved to his collar.  “I’m a prisoner of war.  It’s been made very clear to me that you can force me to do pretty much anything.  I guess it was stupid, arrogant omega sentimentality to think that this pack kept its word just because my own knew the meaning of honor.”

Christina pounded on the bars.  “We have honor, you mouthy omega bitch!  I’ll agree to your terms just so you have to let me hold you down!”

Adam sucked in his breath.  “And the Pack Alpha gives witness!  I hope you do have honor, and you keep your word!”

“And I hope you’re ready for the beating of your life!” Christina shrieked.  She turned, her blue eyes full of fury as she looked at Blake.  “I’ll try not to kill him, Blake, but he is going to be way less pretty when I’m finished with him!”  Livid, she stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind her.

Blake was still staring after Christina when he heard an odd sound.  He turned and saw Adam… Laughing?

Adam was doubled over in mirth, slapping his hands on his legs.  “Her face!” he gasped.  “Blake, did you see her face?  Woo!  If looks could kill!”  He laughed again, straightened, and got control of himself.

Blake could only stare.  He’d never seen Adam with a real smile, or heard him laugh.  Flushed, with sparkling eyes and an infections grin, Adam was beyond handsome.  Blake couldn’t help but smile in return.  “Christina’s loyal, and she’s a fine general.  But she does take herself a bit too seriously.  This duel is going to be like…”  Blake paused, remembering his concerns from before.  He’d gotten so distracted with Adam and Christina’s verbal battle that he’d forgotten his fears about the real one!

“I cannot believe how easy that was!” Adam was saying.  “I’d been wracking my brains, looking for an angle to segue into a side bet, and she brought it up unprompted!  Now I’ll have an edge on the rest.  Their alpha pride won’t let them refuse to take the same chance that a lesser alpha took.”

“Wait,” Blake said.  “You planned to make that bet with Christina?  That was your goal?”

Adam’s good humor instantly transformed into smug cunning.  He looked coolly at Blake.  “You still don’t get it, do you?  Let me enlighten you.  I am going to destroy you, Blake Shelton.  For what you did, to my pack, to my family, to me?  I will completely destroy you!  This is just the start.  I will take your generals away one by one until you’re alone and your pack is questioning your leadership.  And then, when I kill you?  There won’t be anyone left to step into your place.  And your pack will fall apart!  And it all starts today.  I hope you’re ready, Blake, because your first general falls today!”

Blake forgot all about his concerns for Adam’s fight.  Flushed and angry, he stormed out of the dungeon.  A moment later, he returned, carrying a length of rope and accompanied by a dozen anxious betas.

Adam eyed him as Blake unlocked the cell door and stepped inside, standing just out of Adam’s reach.  “I,” Blake declared, “am officially sick of your smart mouth!”  Blake held up the rope.  “I’m tying you up to take you out to your fight, and you are going to stand in the square like that until Christina is good and ready to join us.  Knowing her, that could take half the day!  And you’ll stand there, with everyone staring at you, until Christina decides it’s time to fight.  You have no choice in that.  So here is what you do get a choice in: You can, for once in your damned life, turn around and stand still like a good obedient omega while I tie you up, or you can fight.  Hold still, and I’ll try to keep you comfortable, make sure not to cut off your circulation, and you’ll be good to go for your duel.  But if you fight?”  He indicated the betas.  “Then they hold you down while I beat the hell out of you!  Afterwards, I tie you up in the most uncomfortable position I can bend you into and pull the ropes so tight that you won’t be able to feel your arms!  You’ll have to face Christina already black and blue and with your hands numb.  Your choice!”

Adam scowled.  “Don’t tie me up.  I want this fight!  I’m not going to run away when it’s what I want, so why tie me up?”

“Because I said so!” Blake thundered.  “Because I’m the fucking Pack Alpha, and more importantly, I’m your alpha, and you’re being a complete and total douche bag to someone I really care about and I’m pissed off!  Now, I’m tying you up.  You decide how it’s done.  Choose!”

Adam glared daggers at Blake.  But either something in the alpha’s furious eyes or simply his desire to not disadvantage himself before the fight won the day.  Adam gave a long suffering sigh, turned around, and crossed his wrists behind his back.  Blake tied his hands, making sure the ropes were snug enough to hold him, but loose enough not to impair Adam’s blood flow.  The rest of the rope he wrapped around Adam’s slender waist and tied off.  Adam bore it in resentful silence, chewing on his lower lip so hard it would soon be bleeding.  But he protested loudly and dug in his heels when Blake unlocked his chain from the wall and started leading him out with it.  “Stop it!  You tied me up, so you know I can’t get away from you!  You don’t need to take me out on a leash!”

“You have no idea how close you are to a beating right now, Adam!” Blake hissed.  His face was still red and furious.  “You don’t want the other western omegas to see you like this?  Tough shit!  You should have thought of that before you got those damned omegas stirred up!  Maybe seeing you on a leash will settle them down.  Now come on!”  He jerked on the chain, making Adam yelp and stumble.  “And so help me, if you fight, the threat to beat the hell out of you still stands!”

Chapter Text

It was well over two miserable hours later and Adam thought he was going to go out of his mind from boredom.  He’d wisely chosen not to further irritate the Pack Alpha and had allowed Blake to lead him out.  But when they got there, all they did was stand and wait.  Blake was on his second mug of whatever it was he always drank as he chatted idly with members of his pack.  But even though he saw multiple familiar faces, of course no one spoke with Adam.  Blake had wrapped a section of Adam’s chain around his hand.  This kept Adam on a short lead, meaning he couldn’t even pace more than a couple of steps.  Adam counted every building he could see and got a decent estimation of the number of weres who lived there.  Once the useful information was stored and boredom set in, he tried to occupy his mind by counting all the trees and bushes around the square.  He’d been reduced to counting the ants that crawled past when Christina finally appeared.

Blake waved, acknowledging her arrival, ignoring the constant litany of “let me go let me go let me go” being muttered in his ear for the time being.  Blake decided that his decision to come out here when he did had been a good one.  It had given him time to calm down.  “Afternoon, Christina!” he called.  “Looking beautiful, as always.”

Christina beamed.  The petite alpha was ready for battle.  Her blonde locks had been secured into a tight bun.  She wore a pink tank top and black cargo pants that showed off her very feminine figure, and combat boots.  Fortunately, she seemed far calmer than she’d been the last time Blake had seen her.  Adam had certainly succeeded in provoking her.  But Blake was starting to believe that, given time, Adam could provoke anyone. 

He was certainly trying to provoke Blake.  The omega, tired of being ignored, had resorted to ramming head first into Blake.  “Come on!  Let me go already!”

“Go ahead and let him go, Blake,” Christina said, waving a hand dismissively.  “If he’s that anxious for a beating, after listening to his bullshit this morning I’m happy to provide it!”

Blake quickly untied him.  Adam limbered up his arms, stiff from being held in place for so long as Blake undid the lock on his collar.  But Blake only opened the lock, let the chain fall free, and then snapped the lock shut again without removing Adam’s collar.  “Hey!” Adam protested, tugging at the collar.  “Take this off me!”

“You’re a prisoner of war,” Blake reminded.  “You know how this works.  It stays until you’re accepted by the pack, and you’re nowhere near that point.”

“But Blake, I’m about to get into a fight!  If I was an alpha you wouldn’t…!”

But Blake was adamant.  “Yes, alpha prisoners of war get their collars off prior to their final fight, but this isn’t a death match.  Besides, you’re not an alpha, are you?  Omega collars stay until they’re accepted by the pack.”

Adam sputtered.  “More bullshit double standards?  Take this fucking thing off of me, Blake!”

“Not going to happen,” Blake declared.  “It won’t impair you in any way, so get used to the idea.  You don’t like it?  You want to back out of this?”

“Fuck no!”

“Then deal with it!”

Adam glared at him, wanting to argue more, but Blake had crossed his arms stubbornly over his chest, clearly not budging from his position.  It looked like the collar had to stay.  That was an unexpected setback, but one he had no choice but to accept.

Adam went back to stretching his arms, rolling his shoulders as he moved out into the square.  His eyes fell on a group of familiar omegas, collared as he was, and a scattering of western betas.  His right hand went up in an odd gesture, thumb, index finger, and pinkie extended.  Immediately, the western weres returned the gesture, even though many of their eyes flicked anxiously towards the eastern weres.

“What’s that?” Christina asked.

“It’s a sign of pack loyalty,” Adam explained.  “We may be prisoners here, but you haven’t beaten us down so much we forgot what we are.  I’m the last western warrior, and I’ll show loyalty to my pack before a fight.  You ready?”

There was some growling from the eastern alphas, but Christina ignored it.  She nodded.  “Let’s do this.”  She immediately went lycan, and Adam did the same.

It had been quite a while since the pack got to observe a battle that wasn’t part of the war effort or expected to end in death.  A thrill of excitement went through the crowd as the two combatants circled each other.

Blake’s pulse quickened, his fears for his mate returning as Adam faced off with Christina.  Shaggy gray fur covered their bodies, clawed hands twitched at their sides, and long muzzles opened to display sharp fangs.  A slight breeze brought Adam’s sweet omega scent to Blake and he sucked in his breath, barely able to prevent himself from stopping the fight before it began.  This needed to happen, he sternly told himself.  Just a few minutes, and it would be over.  Then he would tend to the wounded omega, show him how well he could care for him, and Adam would really become his mate.  So long as Christina didn’t hurt him too much.  So long as he didn’t…  Blake swallowed, trying to push down the lump that rose in his throat.

Beside him, Gwen put a steadying hand on his shoulder.  Of course.  Gwen had also caught Adam’s scent, and she, more than anyone, understood him.  “If he gets too hurt, we stop it,” she whispered to him.  “It won’t be like an alpha duel.  No one will die.  At worst, he’ll have some scars, but you’ll still be able to breed him.”  Blake reached up and squeezed her hand, acknowledging her calming presence.

In the square, Adam had tuned out everything else but Christina.  A quiet calm had settled over him, his mind and body readying itself for the coming battle.  The Slasher.  Slash and dash attack style.  She’s quick, and she’s an expert at ducking under defenses.  Gotta stay low, and don’t let her get behind me!

Quick as lightning, Christina shot forward.  Adam stayed low, keeping his six foot frame bent to keep her from getting under his guard.  He lashed out with his claws, but she danced nimbly aside, only to come at him again, this time at his extended arm.  He yelped as her fangs slashed at his arm, carving a deep gash that immediately began to bleed.  Only his quick omega reflexes had kept her from severing the tendon.

First blood to Christina.

At the sight and scent of blood, the crowd went wild.  A chant of “Slasher!  Slasher!” began to rise, hands clapping and feet stomping in time to the chant.  Gwen chuckled, while Pharrell shook his head.  Blake exchanged a smile with Usher.  This wouldn’t take long at all.

Adam ignored everything else but his opponent.  Stupid, extending your reach like that when you know she’ll look for any opening to exploit.  But she’s cocky now, sure of herself, more relaxed.  Now’s the time she’ll start making mistakes.  He ducked down again as she came in for another attack, and again swiped at her with his claws.  But this time, he was ready for her counter.  As she slashed once more at his arm, he spun, moving to her side where he promptly dropped his elbow square into her back.  With a startled cry, she fell forward, stumbling, and nearly fell on her face.  Adam helped her along with a sharp kick to the seat of her pants.

The crowd gasped.  Christina managed to keep from falling through little more than sheer force of will.  Adam took advantage of her unbalanced state to sink his fangs deep in her shoulder and then quickly jump back, mimicking her own slash and retreat technique.  Now they were both bleeding.  Snarling in fury at the omega who had dared to boot her, Christina forgot everything else and charged.

Adam braced, letting her come at him.  Then at the last moment he jumped, planted his hands on her shoulders, and vaulted over her head, shoving down and forward on her shoulders with his full weight.

This time, Christina couldn’t stop herself.  She landed face down in a swirling cloud of dust in the middle of the square.  A second later, Adam dropped onto her prone form, aiming all his weight through his elbow into her kidney.  The general screamed, pain, humiliation, and raw unbridled rage giving her strength.  She shoved her hands against the ground, thrusting herself up, and quickly bent around to sink her fangs into Adam’s calf.

He wasn’t quite fast enough to get his leg out of the way.  Her bite wasn’t deep, only tearing through the leg of his jeans and ripping out a mouthful of his fur, but he certainly felt it.  Fine.  He rolled and sank his own fangs into her calf.  His bite was deep, but quick.  She screamed again and kicked sharply, combat boot missing his face by inches as he kept rolling and got to his feet.

She was up again in an instant, but she was limping badly.  Blood poured from her shoulder and leg as she faced him, surrounded by the shocked, silent pack.  Adam ran towards her, feinting left before slashing right, swatting her away as she snapped at him, and then dropping down into a wide, swinging kick that took her good leg out from under her.

Once again, the general went down.  She got to her hands and knees and looked up, just in time to see Adam’s clenched hands as they caught her hard under the chin.  The tiny werewolf was lifted to her feet by the force of the blow and then tossed through the air, her body flailing until gravity reclaimed it.  She went down, rolling head over heels, until she landed in a cloud of dirt.

Silence.  Christina groaned.  She struggled to get up.  Her arms shook as her head swam.  Adam’s final blow had caused her to see stars, and now dark flowers were bursting into soundless bloom before her eyes.  With a whimper, she fell back into the dust and was still.

Adam had won.

Adam changed back to his human form and stared triumphantly, not at Blake, but at Pharrell.  The general’s face was expressionless as he stared back, knowing that all eyes were on him.  The two-handed swinging uppercut that Adam had just used to dispatch Christina was familiar to any warrior who had ever fought with the general.  It was Pharrell’s signature move.

Adam’s challenge was unmistakable.  You’re next.

Blake forced himself out of his shock and gestured to his beta servants.  “Get him back in the dungeon, now!”

“No!” Adam roared.  “Don’t take me yet!  This isn’t finished!”

Gwen, red faced and furious, started towards Adam, but Blake shot out a hand to stop her.  “He’s right,” he said.  “He and Christina made an agreement that I bore witness to.  There’s one more thing that has to happen first.  Where are the healers?  Christina needs tending!”

Christina groaned.  Pushing the healers aside, she tried to stand, but her leg gave out once more.  Snarling, she half crawled, half hobbled towards Blake.

Blake was powerless to stop what was coming.  He stood, teeth and fists clenched, as his general and friend pulled herself into a kneeling position at his feet, head bowed in perfect submission.  “I hereby step down as your general,” she said.  Her once proud voice was barely more than a whisper, but it carried in the perfect silence of the square.  “If I cannot defeat a mere omega, then I don’t deserve the rank.  I’m sorry, Blake.”

“Christina…” Blake felt like his heart would break.  He offered his hand to her, but she brushed it aside.  Somehow, she got up and, leaning heavily on the healers who came to assist her, silently left the square.

To his credit, Adam didn’t say a word.  All he did was stare at Blake.  Blake looked, but he could read no emotion in the omega’s hazel eyes.  “Get him patched up, too,” Blake called.  “But get him back in the dungeon first.  Generals, we need to talk.  Meet me in the meeting hall.”

Blake stayed to watch as his impossible, unresisting mate was bound and taken back to the dungeons.  Adam’s eyes never left Blake until he was forced out of the square.

Blake turned, his blue eyes sweeping over his pack as they lingered around the square, chatting in low tones, still stunned by what had happened.  But the collared western omegas were standing tall, most not bothering to hide their proud smiles.  As Blake suspected, a significant number of the eastern omegas were keeping near them, obviously wanting to talk.  And the worst of all, with the biggest, proudest smile, was Christina’s tiny new omega.  She was beaming with absolute delight.

This did not bode well.

Chapter Text

 “How did this happen?” Usher was asking when Blake entered.  “How the hell did this happen?  The only people in the pack who can beat Christina are in this room!  How could an omega…?”

Gwen raised a hand, halting Usher’s tirade.  Her dark eyes were fixed on Blake as he stood in the doorway of the meeting hall.  He’d been stoic in front of his pack, but he never hid his true feelings from his generals.  In the privacy of the hall, Blake looked shattered.  His eyes were full of pain as he stared at Christina’s big red chair at the table.  “It’s like it’s accusing me,” he said softly.  “Telling me how badly I let her down.”

“You didn’t let her down!” Gwen protested.  “If anyone let her down, it was me.  It was my team that captured him.  They tried to tell me.  I didn’t listen.”

“How about me?” Pharrell asked.  His eyes were also on Christina’s chair next to his own.  “I’m supposed to be the brains here.  The fact that Levine’s an omega blinded us all!”

“Can I share a bit of blame, too, since we’re parceling it out?” Usher called.  “Pharrell’s right.  As generals, we should have paid more attention to what Gwen’s men were saying.”

“Well, we’re listening now,” Gwen growled.  “The captain is in the waiting room, Blake.  Once you’re ready, let’s bring him in.”  She paused.  “Um, why don’t you sit down first?”

It was good advice.  Blake felt his legs wobble as Gwen took his arm.  Usher immediately took the other, and the two led their shaken Pack Alpha to his own red chair at the head of the table.  Pharrell wordlessly pulled it out for him, and Blake sat down.  Someone put a mug into his hand.  He immediately took advantage of it, draining half the mug in one go as his generals returned to their chairs.  The three exchanged uneasy glances as Blake went still, leaning forward, both hands wrapped around the mug as if it were the only thing left to support him.  It had been a long time since they’d seen their friend and leader brought so low, and no one was quite sure how to handle it.  But all three of them knew exactly what was on Blake’s mind.

“She’s not dead, Blake,” Gwen said softly.  “She stepped down, but she’s still here.  It’s not like…  It isn’t like it was.  Before.”

“Blake, I gotta ask,” Usher said.  “The Beast.  Is it…?”

Blake gave no indication he’d heard.

Gwen dared to move closer and look carefully at Blake's eyes.  After a moment, her body sagged in relief and she glanced at Usher, giving a quick shake of her head.  Usher’s eyes closed in obvious relief.  He leaned heavily on the table for a moment, and then took his seat.  Gwen and Pharrell also slid into their chairs.  Then all three simply sat, waiting for their leader to gather his thoughts.

After a seemingly endless silence, Blake finally spoke.  “I should have known,” he said.  “Adam’s done nothing but fight since I claimed him, but the way he responded to me…?”  He shook his head.  “No.  It’s more than just the fact that I acted like a horny knothead, although that’s the biggest part of this.  I dismissed him as just another hysterical omega.  Hell, he’s hardly the first omega we’ve captured who wanted to challenge their alpha captor!  None of them took it to the extremes he did, but…”  He shook his head again.  “No, see, I missed that, too.  This whole time, he’s been fighting, not just to challenge me, but for everything!  Doesn’t matter what it is.  Any time ya try to force him, he’s fighting.  It’s not just that he doesn’t want to submit to me physically.  He doesn’t want to submit at all!  Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to force him?”

“He’s a captured omega, Blake!”  Gwen’s voice was sharp.  “I know you’re upset about Christina.  We all are!  But you’re talking crazy.”

“She’s right,” Usher agreed.  “Ok, so Adam’s a warrior, but he’s still an omega.  He’s your mate, and you have every right to him and his body that implies.  Especially since he’s a prisoner of war!”

Gwen nodded.  “What could you have done differently?  Taken his collar off and let him run loose?  Did you not tell me that his one stated desire is to kill you?  Blake, your neck isn’t done healing yet, and you still have stitches in your ear.  That crazy omega would have torn your throat out the first time you tried to knot him!”

Blake stared into his mug.  “Yeah, I know all that, but maybe if I’d just listened to him…?”

“We didn’t listen to our own men, Blake, our own alphas!” Usher argued.  “You can’t be blamed for not listening to what didn’t sound like anything more than the wild ratings of an angry omega POW.”

“You don’t get it!” Blake snapped.  “Y’all should have seen him after he made that deal with Christina.  Do you know what he said?  He told me that he was going to take all four of you down, one by one, until my pack lost all confidence in me and when he killed me, there wouldn’t be anyone left to take my place.  Adam doesn’t just want to destroy me.  He wants to destroy my entire pack!”

Silence fell, broken only by the soft sound of Blake swallowing as he drained his mug.  When the Pack Alpha put the empty mug back on the table, no one moved.  Then Pharrell, who had been so lost in his thoughts he’d barely spoken, startled, glanced at Christina’s empty chair, and hurriedly snatched up the mug.  “Sorry,” he muttered.  “I’m still used to Christina…  Like Gwen said, she isn’t dead.  It’s not like before.  I mean, your family…  I’ll just go fill your mug.”  He moved to the door and handed the empty mug to the beta outside.  A moment later, he returned the newly filled mug to Blake.  Pharrell seemed more composed now.  “Blake, shall we listen to that captain?”

“Yeah,” Blake agreed.  “Bring him in.”

Pharrell, still adjusting to his new role as the lowest-ranked general, quickly headed to the waiting room.  A moment later, he returned with the captain.

The captain was a stocky alpha called Dewayne Rubio.  He dipped his head to Blake.  “Greetings, White Wolf.”

Blake hid his grimace behind his mug.  Only his generals knew how much he hated that name and what it signified.  Maintaining a neutral expression to the captain, he nodded in acknowledgement.  “Welcome.  Could you please tell us what happened when you captured Pack Alpha Levine’s youngest son?”

“Please be as detailed as possible,” Pharrell encouraged.  The general had returned to his chair and was ready to take notes.

Dewayne nodded and began to speak.  “We’d received our orders from General Stefani and were at the location.  Our intel was that the youngest son, kept secret until now, was hiding in a cave in the mountains, two days’ travel from their main city.  Messengers had been seen going to and from the cave, so we were certain our target was inside.”  He paused.  “At the time, all we knew was that his name was Adam Levine, and he was the mastermind behind the ambushes and poisonings.  I mean, we all assumed he was an alpha!  We had no idea…”

“Move on, please, captain,” Gwen called.

“Yes, General Stefani, sorry.  Prior to the mission, we intercepted a group fleeing the cave.  Although some escaped, we were able to learn from those we captured that Levine was still in the cave.  They said he knew we were coming, and he’d sent everyone else out in hopes they could escape the coming attack.  But he’d told them he planned to stay behind and make his last stand at the cave.  The city and his family were gone, after all, and he had nowhere left to run.  So he chose to stay and face us.”  Dewayne paused.  “At the time, we respected him for that.  A warrior facing his end alone?  That took a lot of courage.  So we decided that, when we captured him, we’d treat him with the honor that courage deserved.”  He swallowed, his eyes now fixed on the floor.  “I’m only telling you this part because you said you wanted details, General Williams.”

“I appreciate it,” Pharrell called, rapidly scribbling notes.  “Please continue.”

“At that point, we made our move,” the captain said.  “And that’s when it all went to hell.  That western bastard had rigged up the entire mountainside, the whole way up to the cave!  He knew that terrain, every slope and dip, and took full advantage of it.  The whole way up, it was one booby trap after another.  He’d rigged up pits, piled boulders and logs to roll down on us, set up snares and spike traps.  He even had a bear he sicced on us!  We were down five men before we even made it to the cave, and we still hadn’t had any more than a glimpse of him.”

“So you didn’t know yet what you were dealing with?” Gwen asked.

“If you’re asking if we knew he was an omega, the answer is no,” Dewayne answered.  “We knew at that point that we were dealing with a cunning warrior who knew he was cornered, but was refusing to go down without a fight.  The wind was at our backs, so we never scented him.  As I mentioned, we hadn’t seen more than a few glimpses of him as he’d spring his traps on us.  But we heard him.  Oh, did we hear him!  He jeered and laughed and mocked us the whole way up.  Everything about us!  All about our lack of prowess as warriors, our sexual inadequacies, our parentage, he even accused us of having, um, relations with our own mothers!  So by the time we finally reached the cave, we were all pretty upset.”

“But now we knew we had him trapped.  He’d tried to get around, probably to spring some more surprises on us, but we’d cut him off, forced him into the cave.  And we cornered him there.  So in we go, ready to face this alpha warrior, and he lets fly this big log covered with spikes.  Took poor Jansen Matthews right in the gut, and he just died from it yesterday.  By the time we got that sorted out, we were a lot more careful, but there wasn’t anything else in the cave.  Just some personal belongings and some equipment, and in the middle of it all stood this omega.”

The captain’s face had become flushed.  “None of us really understood, not at first,” he confessed.  “The cave wasn’t much more than a glorified crack in the rock, extending about twenty feet or so into the rock face.  We could see there was no way out, and no one else in the cave.  And here was this omega, head held high, all alone, facing down fourteen battered, pissed off alphas expecting this great warrior.  He still hadn’t said a word, just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, proud and tall, glaring at us just as defiant as can be.  And he’s a real looker!  I mean, normally I prefer female omegas, but I’d make an exception for this one, and I can tell I’m not alone.  So I figure I should get to business before the men start getting ideas.  I pull one of the POW collars, and I say, ‘Honey, why don’t you come over here so we can get you collared?’  And he smiles, and says, ‘Honey, why don’t you suck my omega cock?’”

Blake snorted laughter despite himself.  That was so like Adam!  But now everyone was staring at him.  He quickly cleared his throat.  “Ahem!  Sorry.  Go on.”

Dewayne eyed him, but said nothing about it and continued.  “When we heard his voice, we knew he was the one who had been springing the traps on us.  But we still didn’t understand.  So I ask, ‘Where is Adam Levine?’ and he says, ‘You’re looking at him, asshole, now what are you going to do about it?’  And me, I’m thinking this is a saucy omega and I would like him myself, but if he’s telling the truth, the White Wolf will be wanting to meet with him.  So I get the collar ready and start towards him, telling him if he doesn’t want a beating, he’d best lift up his pretty little chin.  And next thing I know, I’m sliding down the wall, stars spinning round my head!”  He shook his head.  “I swear, I never saw him move!  But it was chaos then.”

The captain looked solemnly at Blake.  “His speed, Pack Alpha.  He moved so fast!  And he’s nearly as strong as an alpha.  My men were flying all about, bouncing off the walls of that cave.  Then he tore the throat out of Matt Davison, and we started to understand.  This was no ordinary omega.  He threw Don Savage headfirst into the wall, and Don never moved again.  Then we had an alpha on each of his arms and one behind him holding round his middle, and we thought we had him.  But Dave Smith got too close in front of him, and Levine got his legs round Dave’s head and snapped his neck as neat as you please.  In the end, we had to hogtie him.  And even then, after he was trussed up to where he could barely move and I went to collar him?”  Dewayne held up his left hand, displaying the missing digits.  “Lost the first two joints of my index and middle fingers.  That’s what it cost the pack to capture Adam Levine.  Eight lives, now nine, my fingers, seven broken bones, every one of us with cuts, bruises and abrasions, and poor Jerry Benson lost his right eye.  Twenty men started up that mountain.  Eight walked back down and four had to be carried.  Eight more went into the funeral pyre at the mountain, and a ninth did back here.  And all he said, once he was finally caught and collared?  ‘Take me to the White Wolf.’  That’s all.  Not another word from him until he was dragged into the hall.”

Dewayne paused, looking again at Blake.  “I saw what he did to you when you claimed him, Pack Alpha.  And I saw what happened today.  This omega is every bit as dangerous as any alpha we’ve ever captured.  I know I have no right to it, but I’ll still speak my mind, out of a deep respect for you.  Claim another mate, White Wolf, and kill Adam Levine before he kills you.”

Blake was silent as Gwen dismissed the captain.  He moodily sipped his mug.  “Ok,” he called to his generals.  “I’m listening.”

“I think you should take his advice,” Gwen said.

Blake looked at her.  “You think I should kill my mate?”

“Claiming another mate will help ease the pain of losing him,” she offered.

“I don’t want another mate!” Blake snapped, slapping his hand on the table.  “I want Adam!  I want him so damned much that it’s almost physically painful to be away from him.  And now, on my honor, I can’t even see him for two days!”

“Blake, he’s dangerous,” Gwen warned.  “He’s desperate, he’s out for revenge, and he’s got absolutely nothing left to lose.  That makes him a deadly opponent.  He’ll never willingly submit to becoming your mate!”

“You weren’t there!” Blake argued, scowling.  “The way he leaned into that kiss, how he kissed me back?  Adam’s my true mate.  I know it, and part of him knows it, too!”

“Ok, calm down,” Usher called.  “There’s a way to be sure if he’s your true mate.  When is his heat due?  Do you know?  If he’s your true mate, he’ll call out for you in his sleep when he gets close to a heat.  But even if he isn’t, a heat could help.  My second mate wasn’t real eager either until we shared a heat.  After that, though, she was fine.  Maybe that’s what you need to do, share a heat?”

“Or,” Pharrell said, “maybe I should just beat him in a fair fight.  Then he has to agree to submit, and it won’t matter anymore.”

Everyone stared at Pharrell.  Pharrell shrugged, looking unconcerned.  “I really don’t see the problem.  Ok, so he can fight, but all that means is that I’ll have to put in the effort to beat him, just like I would with a captured alpha.  I can do that.”

“He said he got intel on all of us,” Blake warned.  “He knows you’re The Thinker, Pharrell, and as he’s proven today, he knows your moves.  He took down Christina with the same move you used to finish his brother!”

“I noticed.  Exactly what does he think he knows about us?” Pharrell asked.

Blake thought about it.  “He told Christina all of your names, and Dewayne just now said he knows the stupid name they call me, too,” he recalled.  “So it’s highly possible he knows why we’ve been given those names.  Adam was able to explain Christina’s fighting style to her.  We saw today that he knew how to counter it.  But before he told us what he knew about the rest of you, well, he and Christina kind of got into a bit of an omegafight.”

“Not this omega,” Usher grumbled.

“I see.”  Pharrell folded his hands and tapped the knuckle of his index finger against his chin.  “This is going to be interesting.”

“You think you can beat him?” Blake asked.

Pharrell scoffed.  “Of course I can beat him!  The captain said he’s almost as strong as an alpha.  The key word there is ‘almost.’  So I already have the advantage in strength.  I’m also certain I can outsmart any omega, especially if I wait for the right time.”

Gwen cocked an eyebrow.  “The right time?”

“Whatever else he may be, he’s an omega,” Pharrell explained.  “And we all know what happens to an omega just before a heat!  But that’s another advantage.  Chances are, he’s been on heat suppressants.  It’s possible he won’t recognize the signs, or know what it will do to him.  So I’ll wait until the time is right, and then I’ll accept his challenge.”  He gave Blake a reassuring smile.  “Don’t worry, Blake.  Even if the worst happens and he somehow manages to beat me, you still won’t have to miss out on his heat.  After all, he never thought to specify when you would have to leave him alone after the fight with Christina, did he?”

Blake brightened.  “No, he didn’t!  So I can go and see him, and start the two days tomorrow!”

But Pharrell was shaking his head.  “No.  Leave him alone."

Blake frowned.  "But I..."

Pharrell waved for patience.  "Let the two days start right away and get them over with.  Let him think that’s how it will be, that it will start right after a fight.  That way, even if he does recognize he’s going into a heat, he’ll think he’s safe.  Don’t give him any reason to set the dates.”

The tension in the room was draining away as everyone stared in awe at Pharrell.  “So, your plan is to wait until he’s suffering from PHS, and then fight him when he’s weaker and slower and his brain’s addled with hormones?” Usher asked.

“I also have a certain stipulation for him,” Pharrell added.  “If what he told Blake about wanting to remove all of us is true, he’ll want to make a side bet where I step down if he wins.  I have a counter offer for that, one I don’t see him refusing.  And then when I beat him?”  Pharrell smiled.  “This is all over.”

Blake gave Pharrell a grateful smile.  “What would I do without you?  Always thinking!”

Pharrell chuckled.  “That’s why they call me The Thinker!”

Chapter Text

Blake had reason to be glad of good maintenance when the dungeon door opened without a sound.  He moved quietly towards the cell, taking the key as he passed, and turned it in the lock.  It opened with only the slightest of clicks.  Inside the cell, Adam stirred slightly and Blake froze.  But the omega didn’t wake up.

Carefully, Blake slid the door open enough to admit him and then carefully locked it behind him.  This produced another click that Adam slept through.  With a catlike stealth that belied the alpha’s 6'5 frame, Blake carefully set the keys to the cell door and to the locks on Adam’s chain outside of the door.  Then he approached his sleeping mate.

Two days away from Adam had been sheer torture.  Blake had eagerly made up for lost time, and since then, had been spending every night with Adam.  Adam had been becoming increasingly surly as the days went by and Blake continued to rebuff his repeated requests to set up a duel with Pharrell.  Lately, Blake could barely speak with him.  Every time Blake came to visit, Adam would ask about Pharrell.  Once he’d received a negative answer, would curse Blake and curl up against the wall with his back to the alpha. 

Blake continued his use of Adam’s body, and Adam remained as simultaneously responsive and resistant as ever.  Surely, the omega’s hormones were activating!  But so far, there was no change, no indication of a coming heat.  Blake was starting to despair that, true mate or not, Adam’s heat would never come.  But last night, he’d caught a telltale scent.  He’d scented his mate deeply and repeatedly through the night, profoundly irritating Adam, but was unable to decide if he’d imagined it.  He needed a second opinion.

Blake’s day was full of one tedious administrative chore after another.  There were more squabbles over territory, more skirmishes with the ever dwindling number of renegade western alphas, and now more discord among the pack omegas.  Even the betas were causing trouble.  Blake wanted to scream.  The hours seemed to drag as he tended to his duties as Pack Alpha.  But finally, he was free. 

After a chat with Pharrell, he’d come straight to the dungeon.  But when the guards had informed him that Adam was sleeping, Blake had recognized an opportunity.

For some time, he simply stood and looked at Adam.  Asleep, Adam’s face took on an innocence that was lacking when he was awake.  His beauty became almost childlike.  His dark lashes rested on his cheeks as he lay on his side, curled up under a blanket on the fur rug, hands tucked under his chin.  His lips were slightly opened, offering an invitation that Blake couldn’t resist.  Carefully, Blake crawled closer, ducked down, and gently kissed those lips.

Adam sighed in his sleep.  “Blake…  Oh, Blake!”

Blake’s heart soared.  True mate!  There was no doubt now.  He thought his heart would burst from joy as he gently brushed Adam’s hair.  “I’m here, darlin’,” Blake whispered, leaning down to kiss him again.

For a moment, it was everything Blake wanted, his mate calling his name, responding to his kisses, lips curling into a smile as Adam’s sweet hazel eyes blinked open.  But as Adam’s sleepy brain registered what was happening, the omega changed in an instant.  With a bestial snarl of rage, Adam kicked off the blanket and shoved at Blake, the lips that a moment ago were eagerly pressed to the alpha’s now curled back from his fangs.

Blake moved quickly.  He caught Adam’s hip with one leg even as he snatched both of the omega’s wrists, and in one fluid movement, rolled Adam onto his back.  A moment later, Blake was perched on top of Adam, crossing Adam’s wrists over his chest to hold the furious omega down.  “Whoa, now!  And things were going so well!”

Adam thrashed, trying to buck Blake off.  “Let me go, you bastard!  Get off of me!”

“You sure?  Because a moment ago, you were calling my name.”

“Fuck you!”

“Oh, I intend to!  Ten hours is way too long to be away from you.”

“Leave me alone!”  Adam tried unsuccessfully to bite Blake.  “If you touch me again, I will fucking kill you!  Let me go!”

Blake shook his head.  “Nah, I don’t think so.  We need to talk, but I can wait until you calm down.  Take all the time you need.”

Blake waited patiently, letting Adam struggle.  Blake was larger, stronger, and had Adam at a serious disadvantage, and before long, Adam realized that.  “There now,” Blake called when Adam grew still.  “How about we talk?”

“How about you get off me first?” Adam countered.  “I’m not really receptive when I’m being pinned down by an asshole who’s just announced he’s planning to rape me again!”

“Mm, I don’t know,” Blake said.  “I kind of like it here.”  His expression softened as he looked at his mate.  “I missed you today.  Thought about you all day, and wished I was with you.”

Adam squirmed.  “Get off of me!  How can you keep doing this?  You know I’m a warrior now, but absolutely nothing has changed!  How can you still treat me like this?”

“You’re my mate.”

Adam rolled his eyes.  “Only because you forced me!  You didn’t give me any choice in the matter.  I don’t want anything to do with you, Shelton, let me up!”

Blake’s eyes were fixed on Adam’s lips.  “Let me kiss you.”

“You already kissed me, you sneaky son of a bitch!”

“I know.  Let me kiss you some more.”

“Go to hell!”

“Should I come back later?” Pharrell called from the doorway.

“Ah,” Blake recalled.  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”  To Pharrell, he called, “Come on in, the key’s right out there.”

Adam narrowed his eyes.  “What is this?  What’s going on?”

Neither alpha answered.  Pharrell was in the cell now, crouching near Adam where Blake still held him pinned to the ground.  He stayed there for a bit, sharing an odd look with Blake.  Adam looked from one to the other.  Then he tried to kick Pharrell, and was rewarded with a look of surprise as Pharrell quickly moved out of the way.  “What’s going on?  Dammit, Blake, let me up!”

“I’ll let you up if you let me kiss you,” Blake said.

Adam stubbornly set his jaw.  “Hope you’re comfortable, asshole.  You’re going to be waiting here for a long time.”

“I’m not finished,” Blake said.  “You let me kiss you, and I get to hold you this time!  That means I can wrap you in my arms, hug you, caress you, and pull you up against me, understand?  And in exchange, Pharrell here agrees to fight you.”

Adam’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Pharrell.  “Same terms as Christina?  I win, you step down as general?”

“And when I win?”  Pharrell rubbed his chin and took a deep breath, seeming lost in thought.  “When I win and you submit to Blake, Christina can come back as general.”

“But first, we kiss, and I get to hold you,” Blake reminded.  “And if you fight me, it’s all off!”

Adam scowled.  “Fine, but keep your hands off my ass.  In fact, don’t touch me anywhere below the waistline!  And this time, not only do I get two full twenty-four hour days of you leaving me alone?  You stop sleeping on top of me!”

Blake blinked.  “You don’t like that?”

Adam gave him a look.  “Seriously?  You lay on top of me with your sweaty body while I’m stretched out and can’t move, and you stay there for hours at a time!  What’s not to like, huh?”

“Oh.”  Blake actually looked hurt.  “That’s my favorite part.  I love being so close to you.”

“You’re the only one enjoying himself,” Adam assured.  “And when I beat Pharrell, it stops!  I don’t care where you sleep, as long as it’s not on me!”

Blake sighed.  “For how long?”

“A month!”

“I’ll give you a week.”

“Deal!  Let me up, and let’s get this over with.”

“Well!  That was easy!”  Blake got off of Adam and the omega stood.  “Um, Pharrell, a little privacy if you would?”

“Sure thing, Blake.”  Once again, the alphas exchanged an odd look, this time replete with a matching set of smug smiles as Pharrell let himself out and left the dungeon.  Adam wondered what he was missing?

Then he forgot everything else as Blake pulled him close.  “Hey Adam?” the alpha whispered into his ear.  “You didn’t set a time limit.”

****

Sometime later, Pharrell looked up when he saw Blake come out of the dungeon.  The Pack Alpha looked somewhat dazed.  His lips were red, and his hair was mussed, but a goofy grin was plastered onto his face.  “He was so pissed when I told him he’d forgotten a time limit this time,” Blake reported.  “But oh, was it worth it!”  His grin somehow got wider.  “It’s working, Pharrell!  The more I kissed and held him, the more he responded, and in the end, he was practically climbing me like a tree!”

“Well, if he really is your true mate like you think, that’s precisely what I’d expect,” Pharrell laughed.  “Good.  It will make it easier for him to submit.”

“Yeah.  And then Christina coming back will make it all perfect!  It’s all coming together, Pharrell!”  Blake let out a wild whoop of joy and clapped Pharrell on the back, nearly bowling the smaller wolf over.  “He called for me in his sleep!  He’s close, isn’t he?  You smelled it, too?”

“I did,” Pharrell confirmed.  “That’s why I knelt down next to him, to get a good scent.  By the smell of him, he’s days away from a heat.”  He paused, looking serious.  “Just so you know, you won’t be able to get him pregnant this heat, and probably not the next one, either.  In fact, depending on how long he used suppressants, there’s a chance he could be barren.”

It was like a cloud blotting out the sun.  Blake’s happy smile faded, and pain clouded his eyes.  “Oh.  Well, if that’s the case, there’s not much I can do.  I’m not giving him up.”

Pharrell shrugged.  “Keep him if you want him, especially if he’s your true mate.  You could always take a second omega to bear your pups?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”  Blake’s good mood was returning.  “I’m definitely keeping Adam, so I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”  He paused, his attention on something behind Pharrell.  “Hey buddy, love spending time with you and all, but I kind of would like to say goodbye.  I have something I need to do.”

Pharrell followed Blake’s gaze to see Adam, yelling and struggling wildly against the betas dragging him from the dungeon to the main house and Blake’s quarters.  He groaned.  “Fine choice of words, my friend.  Enjoy yourself.”

“I will,” Blake assured as he hungrily followed the progress of his mate.  “Believe me I will!”

Chapter Text

Adam was wide awake, overheated, and irritated.  In the days since he’d fought Christina, he’d had a lot of company.  A steady stream of eastern omegas had come to speak with him at his cell.  Each had the same questions.  How had he learned to fight?  Why didn’t he submit to his bond mate?  Wasn’t he afraid he’d be beaten?  Why did he defy the alphas?  Did he really think he could beat Pharrell?  And then the real question that brought them to his cell – did he think they could fight, too?  To each visitor, he’d given the same answers.  The only reliable way he’d discovered to make an alpha realize he was more than a thing was to knock it into their skulls.  He’d chosen to learn to fight because he refused to believe he was somehow less than the alphas.  Regardless of his physical characteristics, he was a unique individual, with his own thoughts and feelings that were no less important than those of an alpha.  That was why he’d refused to submit, even when Blake had claimed him.  Yes, he was sure he’d be beaten sooner or later.  He’d been beaten when they captured him, and forcefully restrained and abused every day since then.  But Adam clung to his beliefs, and no matter how much anyone beat him, he refused to feel like he was less than an alpha.  He couldn’t give anyone else advice on what to do.  He’d fought, and look where he’d ended up?  Going against the alphas made you a target, and that meant beatings or worse.  In the end, Adam advised, it was all about what you could live with.

But something he stressed to every one of his visitors was that while no one could change how others treated them, everyone could change how they treated others.  Over and over, Adam told Carson’s story, urging the omegas who spoke with him to change how they thought of and treated the lowly betas.  And gradually, as word spread, Adam found that more and more betas joined the omegas to visit with him at his cell, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Of course, there were setbacks.  Blake’s betas were quick to speak against Adam, recounting how he’d injured or killed their members.  No apology could change that.  Adam had done all he could to limit the damage he did to the betas now, but he couldn’t bear to allow himself to be taken to Blake without a fight, knowing what the Pack Alpha would do to him.  It didn’t seem to matter.  The only difference was that the bitter betas became bold.  Being called an omega slut by a beta had been surprisingly painful.  Adam had asked how he could be a slut when he’d arrived a virgin and had resisted every time?  But the beta only sneered, holding Adam even tighter as the omega was forced into Blake’s chambers, stripped, and bound once more to Blake’s bed.

Blake himself, it seemed, hadn’t changed a bit.  In retrospect, falling asleep so close to the end of the day had been foolish.  But Adam had taken to sleeping for extended periods of time during the day since he’d been captured simply to ease the boredom.  He had nothing else to do in the cell between visitors.  Adam had been humiliated when he’d realized the oddly stealthy Pack Alpha had snuck in despite Adam's sharp senses and stolen a kiss from him.  He’d been even more humiliated to learn that his treacherous sleeping mind had called out for Blake.  And he’d been furious when Blake pinned him to the floor.  It had been so easy!  In one instant, Adam had been rendered helpless, and he hadn’t managed a single attack.  Blake was so strong!  Adam had tried kicking, bridging, twisting his body, anything he could think of to dislodge the alpha.  But nothing had even come close to throwing Blake off.  He’d easily remained astride Adam, trapping him, that smug smile on his face the entire time.  Blake was so infuriating!  Did the alpha know how much that had rattled Adam?  In all his life, no other alpha had ever managed to pin Adam unassisted.  He’d been so thrown by the experience that he’d forgotten to set a time limit for the kiss.

And then there was that kiss.

Once again, Adam’s own biology betrayed him as his omega cried out for his mate.  But this had been so much worse than before.  Wrapped up in Blake’s arms, held close, Adam had expected to feel crowded and trapped.  But instead, he’d felt warm and welcomed.  Safe.  Wanted.  Maybe even loved?  Whatever it was, all he’d wanted to do was stay there, let Blake keep kissing him.  And before he’d realized it, he was clinging to Blake, burying his fingers in Blake’s hair, even wrapping one leg wantonly around him, so close to the alpha that he could feel every muscle, feel Blake’s response and the way his own body responded in kind as their bodies pressed tightly together.  They had both looked positively debauched, Blake’s hair mussed, Adam up on his toes, both with their lips wet and swollen and their faces flushed.  And it was all just too much.

In desperation, Adam had pushed against the alpha’s chest, trying to pull away and reclaim himself.  But Blake held him tight.

“Let me go!”  

“Why should I?”  

“Because I’m afraid!”  

Blake’s blue eyes, so oddly gentle as they looked down at him.  “What of, beautiful darlin’?”  

“I’m afraid…  I’m afraid of what I’ll become, of what I’ll do, if I stay.”  

But Blake hadn’t let him go.  Refusing to give in to his feelings and embarrassed he’d admitted them, Adam had squirmed and pushed, all but begging Blake to let him go until the alpha had finally offered a way out. 

“Kiss me, Adam, and I’ll let you go.”  

And for the first time, Adam had initiated the kiss, pulling the alpha’s head down and pressing his mouth to Blake’s, kissing him with an intensity and longing that had shocked them both.

Adam had been shaking when he’d forced himself to break off the kiss and Blake finally released him.  Even after Blake left, the omega’s heart was still pounding in his chest.

Of course, shortly after, Blake had ordered Adam dragged back to his chambers, where he enthusiastically claimed Adam’s body.  That had largely destroyed what little good will Blake had earned by finally setting up the match with Pharrell.  He’d pissed off Adam even more by refusing to take out the gag, even though it was clear Adam wanted to talk.  And now here he was, sleeping on top of Adam again, despite knowing the omega hated it.  Asshole!

But something else bothered Adam, kept him awake and staring into the night.  The look that Blake and Pharrell kept exchanging.  That smug, knowing glance.  They were up to something, knew something Adam didn’t.  Pharrell was The Thinker.  More than his fighting skills, the general’s weapon of choice was knowledge.  So what had Adam missed?  What knowledge was Pharrell planning to use in his coming battle?

****

The morning of his duel.  Adam was just getting into his workout when he heard someone clear their throat.  Fortunately, it wasn’t Blake.  It was a tiny female omega.  Her collar identified her as a member of his pack, but while she was familiar, Adam didn’t know her personally.  “Hey there,” he called in greeting.

“Hi, Adam.”  She seemed shy, but upset.  “My name’s Sherry.  Can I talk to you?”

Adam moved into another pose.  “I’m sorry, Sherry, but I'm afraid I don’t have time to talk right now.  In a little while, Blake will be coming to take me out for my duel.”

“I know.  That’s why I’m here.”  Sherry looked down, digging the toe of one shoe into the dirt.  “We’ve been talking, the omegas of our pack, and a bunch of the betas joined in.  We’ve been working together now, you know, after what you said?  Anyway, we all know you’ve been on heat suppressants for a long time, so you probably aren’t really used to how things are for the rest of us.  That’s why we decided we needed to warn you.”  She finally looked up.  “Adam, you can’t fight Pharrell.  You can’t beat him!”

That was enough to break Adam’s concentration.  He froze mid-pose, blinking at the other omega.  “What do you mean?”

She hesitated, not meeting his eyes.  “Blake’s been… mating with you.  And that’s affected you, Adam.  You aren’t getting your suppressants anymore, and, well…”  She finally looked up, her eyes full of concern.  “Adam, can’t you smell yourself?  You’re going to go into a heat any day now!”

Adam froze in shock.  “What?  No!  No, I can’t be!  I know I’ve been off suppressants, but I should have had a couple more weeks at least!”

“Not with what Blake’s been doing to you,” Sherry insisted.  “See, this is what we talked about.  You’ve been doing nothing but fighting all your life and you don’t understand how your body works!  We saw how your omega responded when he claimed you, Adam.  It’s still responding, isn’t it?  When he mates you?”

“I don’t want it!” Adam yelled.

“It doesn’t matter what you want,” Sherry replied bluntly.  “An omega knows!  Your body is reacting, breaking through the suppressants, forcing itself into a heat for your mate, and Blake knows all about it!  The betas told us they’ve been gathering supplies on his orders, taking them out to one of the heat camps outside of the city.  Blake’s going to take you out there for your heat as soon as the fight is over, Adam!  And you can’t win!”  Sherry was crying now, tears running unchecked down her cheeks.  “They tricked you, Adam!  You can’t fight like this!”

“Wait, I don’t understand!” Adam called.  “Ok, I’m going to go into a heat and that sucks, but why do you think I can’t fight?”

“Heat hormones make your muscles looser, weaker.  You’re slower.  Your senses are dulled.  You’ll even have trouble thinking straight, Adam, haven’t you ever heard of omegabrain?”

“Oh.”  Adam had nothing else to say to that.

“You’ll be beaten, and then you’ll have to submit to Blake.  Then Blake will take you out for your heat, and all four of his generals will be back in charge.  Everything you’ve done is about to be put back to how it was, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it!”

Adam sat down with a thud.  He groaned, cradling his head in his hands.

The female omega was sobbing hysterically.  “When you beat my alpha, everything changed between us.  Before you, Christina would order me around and threaten to beat me if I didn’t comply.  But she’s different now that we’re in seclusion.  Being beaten by an omega, to be honest I was worried that it would make her bitter and she’d take it out on me.  But instead, it opened her eyes.  She’s kinder, gentler.  She told me some things, about why they attacked us and she became what she became, and now I understand her so much more.  I think I may even be falling in love with her.”  She looked up at Adam through tearful eyes.  “You did that, Adam.  You changed Christina, and if a general can change, maybe they all can?  You gave us all hope for a better life!  What Blake and Pharrell are doing to you isn’t right!  It’s not a fair fight, and you shouldn’t have to submit!”

“It won’t matter,” Adam replied bitterly.  “I agreed to the fight and the terms will stand because they have all the power!  Dammit, how could I have been so stupid?  How could I have not recognized the symptoms?”

“Omegabrain,” she sniffed.  “It’s probably worse for you, because you’re not used to it every three moons like the rest of us.  Heat messes with your emotions, makes it harder to think.  You’ll be slower, too, and you depend so much on your speed!  Our reflexes and our eyesight have always been better than an alpha’s, but with PHS slowing you down?”  She shook her head.  “Adam, you can’t win this, and none of us want to see you publicly beaten.  You need to call Blake and say you want to call off the fight!”

“No!” Adam yelled.  “That means I submit to him, and I can’t do that!”  He ran his hands through his hair and stood up.  Starting to pace, he tried to think.

Sherry watched him, wiping angrily at her face.  “Adam?” she called.  “I want you to know that, no matter what happens, we still believe in you and what you tried to do.  You fought as long as you could to keep our pack alive, and in doing so you gave us all hope for better lives.  And the betas!  Before you, no beta ever dreamed of anything different.  Now, things may just start to change.”  She gave him a sly smile.  “I think you started something, Adam.  It may not happen in our lifetime, but we will tell your story to our children, and their children.  Every omega will know the name of Adam Levine, the last western warrior.  The omega with the heart of an alpha.  No matter what happens today?  We still believe in you.”

Adam swallowed hard around the lump that had suddenly developed in his throat.  What Sherry had just said was corny as hell, but he couldn’t deny the sincerity behind it.  “Thank you,” he said, his voice gruff.  “That means more than you know.”

After she left, Adam forced himself to continue his workout.  He needed to center himself now more than ever.  Heat.  How could he have missed the signs?  The hot flashes, the irritability, and worst of all, the way he’d called for Blake in his sleep.  Calling for the alpha like that before a heat could mean only one thing.  True mate.  But really, was he surprised?  Just last night, he’d struggled and fought Blake’s advances as always.  But even as he strained to push Blake away, he’d been painfully aware of how much he longed to pull the alpha close.

If that didn’t scream “true mate,” nothing did.

Adam shoved the thought aside.  Right now, he needed to focus on Pharrell.  The Thinker.  Already, Pharrell had outsmarted Adam.  Pharrell’s surprise first strike in their duel may very well have finished Adam before the omega even knew it had begun.  He’d tricked Adam into agreeing to a duel when Adam would be at his weakest.  Now that he was finally paying attention, Adam could feel the telltale loosening of his unusually strong muscles, the dulling of his sharp senses.  No wonder Blake had been able to sneak in on him while he slept!

For a moment, Adam wanted to give up in despair.  But then he remembered Sherry’s words.  We still believe in you.  His pack still depended on him as the last western warrior.  Adam’s fights had always been only about himself and his opponent.  But now, suddenly, there was so much more at stake.  He couldn’t give up.  He had to fight.

Moving gracefully from pose to pose, Adam planned his strategy.

Chapter Text

Blake brought no betas with him when he came to collect Adam for his duel.  The alpha didn’t say a word.  He entered the cell and simply stood there, watching Adam as the omega quickly retreated back into the far corner.  Adam’s eyes moved between Blake’s face and the coil of rope in his hand.  “No.”

“Yes.”

“This is bullshit, Blake!  Bad enough that my own body is working against me and you and Pharrell are taking full advantage of it!” Adam yelled.  “You’re not tying me up again on top of that!”

“Oh,” Blake said, moving further into the cell.  “You figured it out.  It’s ok, baby.”

“It is very far from ok!” Adam protested.  “I said I’d submit if Pharrell beat me in a fair fight.  In what way is this fair?”

“Ah, but you’re all about getting treated like a warrior,” Blake pointed out.  “Did you honestly think that, in a real fight, your opponent will let you sit it out because you’ve got PHS?”  He smiled gently at Adam to take the sting out of the words.  “I know you’re upset, darlin’, but these are the facts.  Omegas aren’t warriors for a reason.  Your pretty little body is made for love and for pups, not warfare!”

“Tell that to Christina!”

A flash of pain crossed Blake’s face.  But his patient, calm smile quickly returned.  “Listen.  You don’t have to go through with this.  Now, I need to tie you up and take you out there, but then here’s what you do.  You go out into the square and face Pharrell.  But then you kneel down at his feet and concede defeat.  No, now, don’t get upset!” he called, seeing Adam bristle.  “Yes, Adam, it is time to submit, but see, I’ve thought this through.  This is what you’ll do.  You’ll say, ‘This is a fight between two warriors, but one of us is hindered by biological impediments.’  Pharrell will acknowledge this, and in doing so, acknowledge publicly that you’re a warrior.  After that, you concede defeat, and you walk away with your head held high and your honor intact.  After all, it’s not like you lost because you’re not good enough.  It’s just biology.”

Adam cocked an eyebrow.  “Biological impediments?” he said slowly.

Blake smiled fondly, fearlessly stepping forward.  “Oh, honey, you smell so good it’s driving me crazy!  When you go out into that square, everyone’s going to know you’re going into a heat.  No one will blame you for not fighting, Adam.  We all understand.  And this is the perfect solution.  You’ll still have your pride, Pharrell claims the victory, Christina comes back, and I finally get the chance to show you how good being my mate can be.  This will be quick and painless, and everyone wins.”  He took hold of Adam’s chain and gave it a gentle tug.  “C’mon.  Out of the corner, now.  I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

The defiance was slowly bleeding from Adam’s features as he reluctantly moved forward, stopping just out of arm’s reach of Blake.  His head dropped as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest and looked away, anxiously biting his lower lip.  “I know what you’re really after, Blake.  You’re taking me out for my heat after this duel, aren’t you?” he accused.  “That’s why you want this to be quick.  You just want me to submit before I go into heat!”

“Adam, baby, you’re due any day!  I need to get you into a heat camp before that happens.  Truth is, I should have taken you out there by now, and would have if it wasn’t for Pharrell’s plan.  But your scent, Adam!”  Blake’s expression grew serious.  “You really don’t understand your own biology, do you?  Do you have any idea how many alphas have been prowling around outside?  The only reason I didn’t post guards is because I know damned well that, even if you couldn’t teach them a lesson all on your own, no one is stupid enough to cross me and lay a finger on my omega!  But when your heat hits?  Well, hormones can override common sense.”

“But why take me away?” Adam asked.  “I don’t understand why you’re taking me out of the city.”

“It’s not like it was in your pack homeland,” Blake explained.  “We have electricity and some machines we scavenged after the last human war, but you probably noticed that we don’t have nearly what you did in your city.  To be honest, this dungeon is probably the closest we have to a heat suite in that it can be locked to keep other alphas away from you.  But it’s common practice here to take an omega in heat out into the countryside so it doesn’t disrupt the city.  We have a few campsites set up for the purpose, and that’s where I’ll take you.”  He shrugged.  “You caught us, I’ll admit it.  Pharrell’s The Thinker, and he waited for this.  We tricked you, Adam.”

“Yeah,” Adam said bitterly.  “I am painfully aware of that fact, Blake.”

Blake actually looked guilty.  “I’ll make it up to you, I promise, but first we have to get through this part.  And don’t you worry.  When I take you out, I’ll make it so clear that you’re mine that not even the stupidest alpha in the pack would dare so much as sniff you.”

Blake had stepped closer to the anxious omega as he spoke, shaking out the rope.  Adam shifted his weight from foot to foot, but didn’t move away.  “Come on, darlin’,” Blake coaxed.  “Be good for me, and I’ll tie your hands up front, give you a little more wiggle room.  And afterwards, I won’t ever have to tie you up again.  We can walk out to the heat camp together, hand in hand, or I can even carry you.  Would you like that?”

Adam didn’t answer.

Blake closed the distance between them.  Then he cautiously reached out and pulled an unresisting Adam into a hug.  “Oh, Adam, I am so proud of you!” he crooned, letting the forgotten rope fall as he held Adam close, stroking the omega’s silky hair.  “You can fight like an alpha, and now everyone knows it.  I promise, when this is all over, I’ll respect you more.  I’ll treat you better, be more attentive to your needs.  Just get through this with Pharrell like I said, and everything will change.”  He planted a kiss on his mate’s head and inhaled deeply, breathing in Adam’s sweet scent.  “Once this is over, there won’t be any more locked doors or chains,” he promised.  “No more tying you up, and if it really bothers you that much, I’ll sleep beside you instead of on top of you.  Whatever you want.  It’s going to be so good, just you wait!”

Adam didn’t move or look up.  “You’re planning to breed me, aren’t you?”

“Not this heat, but yes, in time.  But that’s another thing I don’t know if you’re aware of.”  He looked down at Adam, his expression serious.  “Did you know that taking suppressants for a long time could make you barren?”

Adam’s expression clearly showed he did not.  Until now, he hadn’t given much thought to pups.  But knowing he might not be able to have them came as an unexpected blow.

“It’s ok,” Blake soothed.  “We’ll try and see what happens.  I’ll never leave you, even if you are barren.  We can try for pups.  But only when you’re ready.  I won’t force you, baby, I swear it.” 

Blake stepped back, holding Adam’s shoulders at arm’s length so he could look at him.  “You’re my mate,” Blake reminded.  “My true mate.  Please don’t insult me by telling me that you’re going to deny it now?”

Adam shook his head, still refusing to meet Blake’s gaze.

Blake gently lifted his chin, and then cupped Adam’s face in both of his hands.  “Oh my beautiful darlin’, I’ll take such good care of you,” Blake vowed when Adam’s eyes met his.  “We’ll get you accepted by the pack, and you’ll never wear a collar again.  Then anything you want, it’s yours.  You want to keep training as a warrior?  That’s fine.  I’ll even train you myself, and anything I don’t know, I’ll find someone who does to teach you!  You want to fight at my side?  I’ll make you an honorary general if that’s what you want!  Just love me, Adam, the way I love you.  Be my mate.  Stay by my side, and I swear to you, I will spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

Beneath his hands, Blake felt Adam tremble.  The omega’s eyes became glassy as they looked into his own, his emotions impossible to read.  Adam’s lips parted, about to speak, and Blake’s heart skipped a beat at what he might say.  But then he pulled away from Blake’s hands.  “I need to get out there, to Pharrell.  If you’re going to insist on tying me up, let’s get it over with.”

Blake had almost forgotten the rope he’d absentmindedly let fall onto the floor.  Adam held obediently still while Blake tied him, keeping his hands in front as promised and again wrapping the extra rope around Adam’s waist.  Blake checked the knots, concerned.  “That ok, honey?  Not too tight?  I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to be tied up, but it’s not too tight.  You still taking me out on the end of this chain?”

Blake sighed and nodded.  “You know I have to.”  He leaned down, hopeful eyes on Adam’s lips.

Adam quickly turned his head away.  “Then let’s get moving already!”  He was irritable again, his face flushed and upset.  “Biological inhibitions, huh?”

“Biological inhibitions, yes.”  Blake dared to plant a kiss on Adam’s temple.  And to his delight, Adam didn’t resist.

****

Adam noticed the changes right away.  He wasn’t the only omega on a chain now.  At least half a dozen collared western omegas were now restrained by their irritated alphas.  Many more bore signs of recent beatings.  A few alphas were looking at Adam with murder in their eyes.  But many eastern omegas now regarded Adam with something like awe.  Sherry was in a group of western omegas that stood to one side, all clinging to one another in dread as they silently watched Adam.  Some were already crying.

Blake, it seemed, only had eyes for the alphas who were eyeing Adam with interest and sniffing at the air.  He went full lycan in an instant, wrapped his arms around his startled omega and lifted him completely off of his feet.  Adam couldn’t hold back a gasp when the white furred muzzle bared its fangs right next to his face.  Everyone, alpha, omega, and beta alike quickly moved back as the Pack Alpha snarled in warning.  His tongue licked at Adam’s claiming bite.  Then he calmly let Adam back down, reverted back to his human form and kissed Adam’s temple as though nothing had happened.  But the message had been clear.  Not a single alpha dared express even the slightest interest in Adam now.

Adam, for his part, was more shaken than he cared to admit.  It was the first time he’d ever seen Blake in his lycan form.  While he’d studied the reports and heard all the stories, he hadn’t been prepared for how big the White Wolf really was, or the strength in the arms that had picked him up with such ease.  He eyed Blake while the alpha untied him with a gentleness that was a complete contrast with the monster he’d just seen and tried to force himself back to calm.  Get a hold of yourself, Levine.  Worry about Blake later.  You need to get through what’s coming first!

Pharrell was already there.  His surly western omega wasn’t chained or bruised.  But the omega still turned his face away when Pharrell went to kiss him.  Unconcerned, Pharrell kissed his cheek, handed him his hat, and then sent him away with a swat to the rump.  The omega quickly moved to join Sherry’s group.  Once Adam was untied, he was the first to raise his hand in the western salute.

But Adam didn’t return the gesture.  His eyes were dull as he rubbed at his wrists, waiting while Blake unlocked the chain from his collar.  He kept his eyes downcast as he stepped to the center of the square to face off with Pharrell.  And when Adam dropped to his knees at the general’s feet, a wail of despair rose from the western omegas, quickly silenced by the relieved alphas.

Chapter Text

Adam was only marginally aware of his surroundings as he knelt at Pharrell’s feet, hands curled on his thighs, his head low and eyes fixed on the ground.  He could barely hear the stifled sobs of the western omegas, the scattered cheers and shouts of “Way to go, Thinker!” and Blake’s happy “thank you” repeated over and over as he was clapped on the back and congratulated by his generals and friends.  His entire world had narrowed to himself and Pharrell.

Pharrell glanced at Blake for permission, saw him nod, and gently placed his hand on Adam’s head, the traditional method for an alpha to signify acceptance of submission from an omega he wasn’t bonded to.  “Steady,” he whispered, seeing Adam’s hands clench into fists.  “I know this is hard for you.  But you’re doing the right thing.”

Adam didn’t answer, but his hands loosened.  He focused on his breathing and quickly regained control of his emotions.  It was easier once Pharrell took his hand away with a whispered “That’s a good omega.”  Adam had expected the gesture, but hadn’t been prepared for how it made him feel.  The warrior wanted nothing more than to jump up and punch Pharrell in the face.  Maybe Blake as well for conspiring against him, putting him into this unwinnable situation.  But one thing Adam had learned from his string of warrior trainers was that the best way to win an unwinnable fight was to not fight.  Submit, Levine, he told himself firmly.  It is time to submit.

If only his trainers could see him now.  One trainer in particular.  The one Adam had considered the best fighter in the pack.  The one he’d allowed to kiss him.  The one he may have even allowed to claim him had Adam not chanced upon the cleverly-constructed gloves covered with fur that exactly matched his trainer’s, complete with lifelike metal claws and metal guards sewn inside at the knuckles that were the real reason the man had never lost a duel.

“This is why you always went lycan well before a duel and didn’t change back until you were alone.  Because you were wearing these!” he’d cried, throwing the gloves in accusation at the alpha who had come closer than any other to winning his heart.  “You won because you cheated!”  

“Come on, Adam!  Did you see the size of that guy?  I couldn’t have beaten him, he’d have torn me apart!”  

“Then you shouldn’t have agreed to fight him!  You have no honor!”  

The alpha had only shrugged.  “Honor doesn’t win fights.  When the odds are stacked against you, you knock down the stack!”  

Pharrell raised his arms for silence.  When the square was quiet, he turned back to the kneeling omega.  “Adam,” he asked, “you got something to say?”

Adam nodded, eyes still on the ground.  He took a deep breath, seeming to brace.  When he spoke, his voice was wooden, as though the words were being dragged out through his lips.  “This is a fight between two warriors,” he began.  “But one of us is hindered by…”  He swallowed and grimaced.  “…Biological impediments.”

Pharrell nodded.  “I agree.  We are both warriors, Adam.  No one can deny that you can fight.  But no matter what else you are, you are still only an omega.”  He smiled gently down at Adam, seeing the omega’s throat move as he swallowed.  “There’s no shame in this.  You should be proud.  You fought well, and you’re a credit to your pack.”

Adam swallowed again.  “One of us is hindered by biological impediments,” he repeated.  “And unfortunately, it’s you.”  Adam leaned forward, going full lycan as he moved, and punched both clenched fists with all his strength directly into Pharrell’s crotch.

From his kneeling position, he was at the perfect angle for maximum impact. 

Pharrell’s eyes bulged.  A strangled sound came from his throat.  He retched, doubled over, hands cupping his injured groin.  His face went a sticky shade of grey.  Falling to his knees, he retched again.

Adam had bounded to his feet immediately.  His hand shot up in the salute of the western pack as he threw back his head and howled in defiance.  And all around him, omegas and betas, both eastern and western, echoed his salute and cry.

The Thinker discovered he wasn’t able to think.  Pain sent waves of nausea through him as Adam launched into a series of punishing attacks.  The battered alpha managed his feet, unable to stop the moans as his injured testicles were further insulted by his movement.  By the time he was up and in lycan form, he was already bloody.

The Thinker.  Able to analyze an attack strategy and adapt on the move, making him primarily a defensive fighter.  Prefers to analyze his opponent and learn their habits before moving to attack, and is willing to take a beating to reach that goal.  This is the most resilient of Blake’s generals, able to fight through wounds that would flatten most wolves.  He’s hurt, but he’s not finished.  He knows now that he underestimated me.  He won’t make that mistake again.  Now he’ll wait me out, study my fighting style and come up with a way to counter.  If that happens, I’ve got no chance.  All I can do is mix it up, vary my attacks.  I’ve evened the odds a bit, but I’m still in for a fight that I’m in no condition to finish.  My only hope is to find a way to end this quick!  

Adam darted in, slashing at Pharrell’s face with his claws.  Pharrell still wasn’t walking or moving well.  Adam was able to get behind the general enough to sink his teeth into Pharrell’s shoulder.  Pharrell responded with a sweeping kick that nearly took Adam’s feet out from under him, even as the movement made the general yelp in pain.  The stories were obviously true.  The Thinker was capable of ignoring a great deal of pain.

The crowd was wild, screaming and cheering for their fighter of choice as the two closed again.  Adam continued his quick attacks, darting in and out.  Even slowed by an impending heat he was fast, especially with Pharrell still limping.  But suddenly, Adam moved in and Pharrell wasn’t there.  A moment later, Pharrell’s claws ripped into Adam’s back.  The Thinker had started to anticipate and counter his attacks.  Time to change tactics.

Adam darted in low, moving with Pharrell as he danced aside and turned to counter.  Staying low, Adam slipped under Pharrell’s guard, punching both fists into the alpha’s diaphragm.  The air went out of the general’s lungs in a woosh.  Adam swept in, punching, clawing, biting, and kicking for all he was worth.

A moment later, Adam was flying through the air.  He hit the dirt with a yelp.  His cheek stung, and his jaw ached.  Pharrell had used a variation of his signature move, the alpha strength behind his powerful blow making Adam’s ears ring as he rolled away, avoiding Pharrell’s follow-up attack and getting to his feet.  Adam swore.  He hadn’t realized that Pharrell had recovered from getting the wind knocked out of him.  Omegabrain!  By now, Pharrell was walking easier, too.  His body radiated menace as he stalked towards Adam.

Adam’s advantage was gone.  Now it was just a matter of who could outlast the other.  Adam listened to the sounds of his pack screaming his name and tried not to think about the fact that outlasting his opponents was what Pharrell did best.

The two weres met in a furious tangle of dust and fur.  Both refused to stay down.  The ground beneath them grew damp with blood. 

Adam’s head felt light.  His body trembled with exertion, energy sapped by his coming heat.  Pharrell was like a machine.  No matter how much damage Adam did, the general simply kept coming.  But even as Adam felt his strength start to fail, he could hear Sherry’s words: We still believe in you.  This was about more than himself, and somehow, that drove him to fight on when all he wanted to do was collapse.

Suddenly, Adam recognized that Pharrell wasn’t countering his attacks anymore.  The general’s eyes were glazed.  There was no strategy behind his attacks anymore.  Instead, he was moving stiffly, more by instinct than anything else.  It was enough to give Adam hope and renew some of his flagging energy. 

Adam danced away from the flailing claws and sent a fist into Pharrell’s kidneys.  As Pharrell yelped in pain, Adam spun and landed a roundhouse kick to his jaw.  Pharrell’s eyes rolled back.

Now!  

Adam ignored the screaming protest of his body and arched backwards, catching himself on his hands.  He distantly registered Usher’s howl of fury as he scissored his legs, the left going behind Pharrell’s knees, the right against the general’s waist.  Then he kicked his left leg out, sweeping Pharrell’s legs out from under him even as he kicked down his right leg with all his strength, driving Pharrell hard into the ground.  Somehow, Adam managed the twisting roll that finished the unique move, pulling himself free and rolling back onto his feet.  Pharrell gave a grunt of pain.  And then the general was still.

Usher howled again as Adam dropped back to human form and turned to stare him down.  Once again, the impossible omega had finished one general with the signature move of another.  Apparently, Usher was upset about it.

“Get him!” Gwen roared.  “Get that fucking omega!  I want him bound, now!”

Ok, so Gwen was upset, too.  Adam supposed that was to be expected, seeing as how he’d just halved the number of Blake’s generals.  Right now, he discovered, he couldn’t care less.  He put up no resistance as a mixed group of alphas and betas ran forward at her command and pounced on him, forcing him down on the ground and dragging his arms back.  Adam barely noticed.  Ignoring the pain of ropes biting into his wrists, he focused only on the ground.  Ah, the ground was nice.  Lying down was good.  Adam didn’t even care when the chain was once again attached to his collar, too concerned with trying to sink into the lovely cool ground, leaving his aching body behind.  He’d never before come so close to losing a fight.  His body, pushed beyond limit, wanted only to sleep and heal.  Adam had every intention of doing just that.

But suddenly a hand fisted into his hair, jerking his head back.  Adam was instantly awake.  He yelled, struggling desperately as sharp fangs descended towards his exposed jugular.

Then a white blur connected with the wolf menacing Adam, and suddenly Adam was free.

A new duel had commenced in the square as a massive white wolf savaged a smaller gray.  Yelping, the gray wolf retreated, blurring back into Gwen’s human form.  “Blake!” she cried, throwing herself face first onto the ground.  “It’s me!  It’s Gwen!  Blake!”

The White Wolf blinked and shook his shaggy head, seeming to come back to himself with an effort.  Reverting to human form, Blake glared down at his general.  “What the hell did ya think you were doing?  You were about to kill my mate!  You’re lucky I didn’t…!”

“You need to stop this, Blake!” Gwen pleaded.  “You deserve so much better, and he’s going to tear this pack apart! Kill him!”

“Adam is mine!” Blake snarled.  “Mine!”

“Blake!”

It was Pharrell.  Getting to his feet, Pharrell staggered closer to the Pack Alpha.  Then he dropped to his knees.  “I hereby resign as your general,” he declared.  “But I have one final piece of advice before I go into seclusion.  Will you hear it?”

Blake cocked his head at the former general.  The worst of his fury had faded from Blake’s eyes, although anger still flushed his features.  “I’m listening.”

“Take your omega into the countryside and finish his heat,” Pharrell advised.  “But when you return, I ask that you take a long, hard look at your pack.  You have a decision to make, Pack Alpha.  Your mate?  Or your pack?  I only hope you find the strength of will to choose wisely.”  And with that, Pharrell rose and walked away.

Blake stared after him.  The blue eyes looked confused.  They moved about, seeing the uncertainty of his pack, the divisions between the alphas and the omegas and betas.  Then his eyes fell on the bound and bloody figure on the ground.  He reached into his pocket and handed something to one of his betas.  Then he moved forward and gathered his mate into his arms.

Adam was beyond exhausted.  He lay still and quiet in Blake’s arms, letting the alpha carry him.  But just as he was about to nod off, Adam realized that Blake wasn’t heading towards the dungeon.  Instead, they were moving past the circle of houses.  His long strides rapidly took them away, heading towards the open country.  Alarmed, Adam tried to squirm loose.  “Wait!  Where are you taking me?  I won!  You have to leave me alone for two days!”

“You’re going into heat,” Blake explained, never slowing his rapid pace.  “And I don’t recall anything being said about when those two days would start.  So I’ll leave you alone when we come back, after your heat is finished.”

“You dishonorable bastard!” Adam snarled.  “Put me down!”

“I don’t think so.”  The alpha’s eyes were as hard as his voice.  “Bad enough you destroyed another of my closest friends.  Worse that I have to leave my pack in the state that it’s in.  But did I ever mean anything to you at all, Adam?  I opened up my heart and soul to you, and you let me believe you felt something, too!  You let me believe you’d be mine!  You let me fall in love with you, Adam!  And the whole time, it was just a damned trick to get an edge on Pharrell!”

Adam slammed a lid on his feelings.  “How about what you did?” he accused.  “You two planned to use my own biology against me!  What else could I do?”

“You could have done what we all believed you were about to do!  You could have submitted!”

“Rot in hell, Blake!” Adam yelled.  “I told you, right from the day you claimed me, that I would never be yours and I meant it!”

“Yeah, well, you’ll be singing another tune in a day or so.”

“Fuck you!”

Blake never slowed his pace.  “Exactly.”

Adam struggled and kicked.  “Put me down!”

“You want down?  Fine!”  Blake abruptly dropped him.  Adam couldn’t catch himself with his hands bound behind his back.  He hit the ground with a bone jarring thud that aggravated every injury he’d just received fighting Pharrell.  He groaned, and then gagged as Blake helped him to his feet by pulling up on his chain.  “Start walking, Adam!  We got a long way to go yet.”

Five minutes later, Adam collapsed.  Blake stopped and tugged on the chain, but Adam was out cold.  Blake scooped him up and kept going.

With every step, the question rang in his mind.  His mate?  Or his pack?

Chapter Text

Things were hurting that Adam had never even thought about before when he finally opened his eyes.  He was looking at a blue tarp.  The tarp hung over a rope and fell down to either side of him, where stakes held the corners.  He was untied, lying on a nest of soft furs with another fur covering him.  Someone had cleaned him up, dressed his wounds, and changed his clothes.  Adam could vaguely remember that, along with someone feeding him warm broth laced with something mediciney that had soothed his pain and sent him back into a deep sleep. 

His internal clock told him that it was morning, the day after his duel with Pharrell.  No wonder everything hurt.  He’d slept all day and night.  That was to be expected.  His body was undeniably gearing up for a heat, storing his energy to prepare for possible pregnancy.  Adam had no idea how he was supposed to put up with this every three months, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped.  Now that he’d learned how suppressants could affect his fertility he wouldn’t chance them again, regardless of circumstance.  Adam had surprised himself with the realization that he did want pups at some point.  Never mind the fact that the pups Adam kept picturing all gazed back at him with blue eyes.  He was bound to have weird omegabrain ideas at this point in his heat cycle.

His heat.  Adam’s stomach twisted up in knots.  It would only be the second time he’d had one.  The first had come when he was fourteen.  The memory was hazy now.  He could barely recall his mother having him locked into the city’s heat suite after Adam had refused all available alphas.  The heat suite consisted of a room with metal walls and a heavy metal door, equipped with an air circulator that rattled and gave him a headache every time it kicked on.  His entire time locked inside of it was spent crying and scratching at the walls with only his vibrator for relief.  It had been such a painful, degrading, and humiliating experience that he’d started suppressants the day his heat ended.  Now, he had to go through it again, and with Blake!  Adam shuddered.  He’d gotten better at disassociating himself from his body while Blake used him, but he doubted he’d be able to do that during a heat.  Granted, it might be better with an alpha to take away the terrible wanton emptiness he’d felt.  But of all the alphas in the world, why did it have to be Blake?

The benefit of his body preparing for heat was that it would help him heal.  In a few days, his body would bear no trace of the wounds he’d received only yesterday.  He would need to eat, though, and soon.  His stomach was feeling neglected and protesting loudly.  He could smell something cooking outside and he hoped there was a lot of it.  He could recall making a considerable strain on the food supplies stocked in the heat suite during his first heat.

Adam looked around.  Above his head outside of the tarp he could see a pair of trees.  They joined together at ground level, branching out above the tarp where he lay.  His chain was locked around the base of their trunks where they joined.  The rope supporting his tarp was tied off high on the right tree.  Looking down, he saw that the same rope also supported a second tarp.  This one was larger.  It seemed, at least until Adam’s heat started, that Blake would let him sleep alone.  But that was probably just self-preservation.  Adam had shown no hesitation about tearing chunks out of Blake any time the alpha let his guard down.

Adam tried to sit up, and his collar immediately dragged at his throat, pulling him back.  Annoyed, Adam rolled over and crawled out of the tarp to inspect his chain.  The problem was apparent.  Blake had cinched the chain up short before locking it around the base of the double trees.  Adam could crawl or lie down in the tarp, and he could get to his knees, but he couldn’t stand.  He’d be forced to either lie down, sit, or kneel until Blake decided to let him go. 

It was the last straw. 

Seething, he ran his fingertips under the collar.  Since the day they’d captured him and locked it around his neck, no one had ever taken the horrible thing off.  His skin had quickly become red and irritated, chaffed by the constant rubbing and tugging.  Now he could feel the circle of calluses that was forming, a second collar beneath the one he’d been forced to wear.  He clenched his fist around the leather and slammed the palm of his other hand against the tree, closing his eyes, trying to contain his growing fury.

“Good morning!” Blake’s voice called.  “Breakfast is ready.  Sleep well?”

“Stop,” Adam said quietly.

“Ah, you’re mad about the chain,” Blake guessed.  “Yeah, I suppose I played a little prank on ya while you were out.  But you look so pretty on your knees!”

“Stop!”  The omega’s voice was louder now.

Blake cheerfully scooped food onto plates.  “Oh, don’t start bitching now.  By the smell of you, your heat will start any time, and then I’ll give you a lot more wiggle room.”

“Stop treating me like this!”  Adam was yelling now, although he hadn’t moved and his eyes were still closed.  “Stop trying to force me!”

Blake snorted.  “Dramatic much?  I’m over here fixing you breakfast, after I took care of you all night!  What am I forcing you into, exactly?”

Adam’s entire demeanor changed in an instant.  “Stop trying to force me to submit!”  He went wild, pulling, kicking, scratching, even biting at the chain, thrashing on the ground and screaming like a madman.  “Stop trying to make me into something I’m not!  I’m a warrior, but you don’t care!  It doesn’t matter to you that I beat two of your generals, you still won’t see me for what I am!  I’ll never be a submissive omega, no matter what!  Rape me, beat me, chain me up like a dog, it won’t matter!  I don’t want to share my heat with you!  I don’t want to be your mate!  I don’t want you, Blake!  I just want to go home, and I don’t even give a shit that it’s destroyed!  I’d rather die alone there than stay here another minute with you!”  He clawed at the collar.  “Take this fucking thing off of me!  I can’t stand it anymore!  Just let me go or fucking kill me, before I find a way to end this myself!”

For a moment, Blake stood there, mouth open in shock.  Then Adam’s threat to kill himself hit home.  Panicked, Blake pounced on Adam.  A moment later, surrounded by shredded bits of tarp and bark and a copious amount of disturbed ground, Blake had Adam pinned.

Adam yelled out in frustration.  Blake caught him while distracted and had pinned him down once more, in the exact same way he’d been pinned prior to his fight with Pharrell.  “Get off of me!” Adam screamed.  “I’m so sick of this!  You know I’m a warrior, how can you keep doing this to me?  You have no right!  I’m not your property just because you bit me!”

“Stop fighting!” Blake ordered.  “Calm down before you hurt yourself!”

“I don’t want to fucking calm down!” Adam howled.  “I can’t live like this, I’m going crazy!  You leave me locked up all day with nothing to do until you decide you want me again, and then you tie me down and rape me and then throw me back in the dungeon again and that’s my whole life!  Day in and day out, that’s it!  Then after I nearly get my ass kicked and I’m weak from heat, you take me out here and chain me up so I can’t get off my knees?”  Adam strained, hating the weakness his heat was causing in his body.  “I’m not a fucking toy, Blake!  I’m a person!  Stop treating me like a thing!  I didn’t ask to be born an omega and I didn’t ask you to claim me!  Why won’t you understand that I’m no different than you are?  How can you chain me up like this?  Why can’t you put yourself in my place and just try to imagine, for one fucking minute, how this feels?”

But I already know how it feels, to be locked up and chained.  To be helpless.  I know exactly how it feels.  How could I have forgotten?  

But of course, Blake had intentionally forgotten.  Driven the memory of that terrible time as far away as possible.  Sealed it up and locked it away to be visited only in his nightmares.

Until now.

So cold.  Cold ground underneath, cold metal at his wrists, the clinking of cold chains with the slightest movement.  Worst of all the coldness in his heart.  No warmth during the day, the coldness in his heart growing worse and worse with every fight, every death.  No way out.  No hope.  Despair.  

Blake forced himself out of the memory with a gasp.  He glanced at the chain, noting how he’d cinched it close, and thought about why he’d done it.  The answer was soberingly simple. 

He’d wanted Adam on his knees. 

He hadn’t planned on it.  But after he’d been so gentle, tending to his mate, watching over him all night, when the dawn began to break and Adam’s eyes had briefly fluttered open, Blake had tried to kiss him.  And even though he was barely conscious, Adam had pushed him away.  The continued rejection had hurt deep, and Blake had lashed out with this childish, spiteful prank.  It was if he’d believed that forcing Adam into a position of submission would somehow make the omega actually submit.

I had no right.  Adam owed me nothing, especially after the way I treated him when I was taking him out of the city!  I spent all night tending to wounds he received because of my treachery, and he had every reason to push me away.  

But even as shame washed over him over his petty actions, Blake realized something.  “I don’t want you to submit,” he said, amazed as he heard the words aloud.  “It was your fire, your spirit that attracted me to you in the first place.  The way you fought when they dragged you in!  I could barely breathe.  You were so beautiful!”  He shook his head, looking wide-eyed down at Adam.  “Maybe you can beat me in a fight, and maybe you can’t.  But when it comes to my heart, I never stood a chance.  I think I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Adam.  I’ve never seen an omega like you!  And I don’t want you to change.  God help me, I don’t want you to change, not even for the sake of my pack!”

Adam grew still, somber hazel eyes looking up at Blake.  “You’re killing me, Blake,” he said softly.  “Every day you keep me prisoner, a little piece of me dies.  I can’t live like this!  Please let me go?”

“Adam, I can’t live without you!”  Blake hated the desperation in his voice.

Adam closed his eyes.  “Let me up, and for once, talk to me?”

Blake got off of Adam.  Adam tried to get up, but was again caught by the chain.  He immediately cried out, rolled onto his stomach, and began struggling with it once more.  “Hold on!” Blake called.  “Just wait a minute.”  Producing a key, he unlocked Adam’s chain.  Letting the links slide through his hands, he reached the end and fastened the chain around his own waist.  “There,” he soothed.  “Now you can move.”

Adam stopped struggling and had been warily watching Blake.  Now he cautiously sat up.  “This won’t work, Blake,” he called.  “You can’t keep me.  Even if I could forgive and forget what you’ve done to me, how can I excuse what you did to my family, my pack?  If you keep me like this, I won’t have a choice.  One way or another, I will get away from you!”

Blake instinctively reached towards him, but hesitated when Adam flinched.  “I won’t hurt you, Adam,” he soothed.  “I just want to help.  Can I hold you?”

“No.”  Adam shook his head.  “Thank you for asking, for not just grabbing me.  But please don’t touch me.”

Blake lowered his hands.  “Alright, darlin’, I’ll just sit next to you then.  Would that be alright?”

When Adam nodded, Blake sank to the ground near him.  He folded his long legs under himself, taking care to stay out of the omega’s personal space.  “What can I do, Adam?” Blake asked.  “I can’t let you go.  And I don’t understand you.  All this time, your one desire was to kill me.  Now all you want is to get away from me?  What’s changed?”

Adam tucked himself into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest, and refused to meet Blake’s eyes.  “You know what’s changed,” he mumbled.  “I don’t want anything to do with you, Blake, but my omega has found its true mate.  It’s tearing me apart!  Maybe after my heat, things will go back to normal, but right now…?”  He shook his head.  “I don’t know.  I just can’t stomach the thought of killing you anymore.  To be honest, I’m not even sure I could do it if I tried.  Pharrell nearly beat me.  Usher and Gwen will be harder, and you’ll be hardest of all!”

“It’s your heat talking,” Blake soothed.  “You’re emotional and vulnerable because you’re right on the cusp of it.”  He sighed.  “I don’t know how to feel.  My generals are the only family I got, and I’d do anything for them.  Watching them be humbled like that hurt more than you can imagine.  But at the same time, I’m so damned proud of you I could burst!”

“You do realize that you watch me humbled every single day, right?  At your command?”  He tugged at his collar.  “This is your doing, Blake!”

Blake winced.  “Yeah.  And you probably hurt yourself, fighting it just now.  Can I see?”

Adam hesitated for a long time.  Then he finally nodded.

Blake moved closer, moving slowly so as not to startle Adam.  Adam lifted his chin and held still.  Blake carefully peeked beneath Adam’s collar.  He noted the damaged skin and frowned.  “You need to stop fighting so much.  It’s made your neck really sore.”

“Or you could, I don’t know, take it off me?  I’d heal up fast if you just took the damned thing off!”

Blake sighed.  “You know I can’t do that.  Hang on.”  Blake rummaged through his supplies and returned with a small container of foul-smelling ointment.  Then he gently rubbed the ointment into the sore skin under Adam’s collar.  “Better?” he asked once he was finished.

“Yeah.”  At least the omega was calm now.  Brushing Blake’s hands aside, Adam tugged unhappily on the collar.

“Don’t pull on your collar, honey,” Blake scolded gently.  “You’ll only hurt yourself more.  You do that all the time, pull on it.”

Adam froze mid-tug.  “I can’t help it.  It’s constantly rubbing and pulling on me, choking me, either holding me in place or forcing me to move.  It’s awful, Blake.  It’s the most demeaning way possible to restrain someone, and every western omega has one just like it!”

Blake looked down.  “I never really thought about it like that.”

“Because we’re omegas.”

“And prisoners of war,” Blake agreed.

“You wouldn’t do this to an alpha prisoner of war, Blake.  You collar them when they’re first captured, sure.  But then you take the collar off and let them fight with dignity in the end.  You give that respect to an alpha, but you made me fight collared!  Why was that ok?”

“We take the collars off the alphas because we just kill ‘em,” Blake pointed out.  “Omegas need to be watched until they’re accepted.”  His shoulders slumped.  “But you’re right.  You’ve been right all along.  You were dragged into the hall and just handed to me like you were a piece of meat.  Just another spoil of war, and that’s precisely how I’ve treated you all this time.  Even when I knew better.  Even when you proved you were the equal of any alpha, even at your weakest!  It’s not just you, is it?  You’re the one making the noise and the fuss, but they’ve all been suffering.  And not just the new western omegas, either.  Our own omegas, we’ve been keeping them beat down for generations and thinking nothing at all of it.”

“Don’t forget the betas.”

Blake blinked.  “What now?  Come on, Adam, there’s a limit!”

“No, Blake, there really isn’t.  And you probably do have family, brothers and sisters, right there in your city.  You just never knew.”

“What’s this now?”

Adam recounted Carson’s story.  Blake listened in silence.  When Adam finished, he sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought.  “Brothers and sisters I never even knew,” he mused.  “I knew I was probably born in a litter of betas, but I never really gave it any thought.  I don’t know what to say.”

“For once, we agree.  When Carson told me what I’d done, I was so ashamed of myself it made me sick.  So I get it.  I know how hard it is, to change an opinion you’ve held your entire life.”

Blake nodded.  He got up without a word and, taking care not to tug on the chain, retrieved the plates of food he’d prepared earlier.  “It’s cold now,” he said as he handed Adam his plate.  “But it should still be good.  Eat up.  You must be starving.  Oh, and take these.  I know you’re hurting.”

Adam took the offered analgesic with some trepidation.  But he practically inhaled the food, and Blake refilled his plate without a word.  As they’d talked, Blake had noticed Adam’s scent was growing steadily stronger, filling the camp with its sweetness.  It was nearly intoxicating.  Blake was barely able to finish his own plate.  Adam didn’t seem to notice.  “I’m tired,” was all he said when he’d finished eating.

Blake pointed to the larger tarp.  Adam nodded, started moving towards it, and turned back to Blake, his hand again going to his collar.  “You’re not taking this off.”  It wasn’t a question.  “Even though you understand how demeaning it is, and you know I’m too close to heat to run now?  You still won’t take it off!”

“I can’t,” Blake said simply.  “I don’t have the strength to risk you running away.  In time, I swear I’ll take it off and you’ll never wear one again.  But not now.  I’m sorry.”  He paused.  “I’ll be honest with you.  Your scent is…”  Blake licked his lips, feeling suddenly anxious.  “Adam your heat is about to start.  The next time you wake up…?”

Adam shuddered.  He closed his eyes and nodded.  “Thank you.  For warning me.”

Blake gathered his strength and plunged ahead.  “Adam, I won’t force you anymore,” he vowed.  “Not even for your heat.  If you want me to leave, I can chain you up here, give you lots of slack, send some betas to guard you and make sure you’re safe, and you can wait it out.  It’s your choice.”

For a long moment, neither of them moved.  Blake held his breath, bracing for Adam to tell him to go, ready to force himself to leave and chain himself to a damned tree if that was what it took.  And then Adam looked at him.  “Will you take care of me, Blake?” he asked quietly.  “Will you see me through it?”

It was like the sun had come out from behind the clouds after a long period of darkness.  “Of course, darlin’,” Blake promised.  “Go to sleep.  I’ll be right here with you.  And I promise you, nothing will happen until you’re ready.”

Adam actually smiled.  Then he crawled into the larger tarp, nestled in among the furs, and was asleep almost immediately.

****

“Blake!”

Blake, exhausted from being up all night, had been snoozing in the grass outside of the tarp.  “Hmm?” he called sleepily.

“Blake!”

Blake blinked open his eyes.  The sun was directly overhead, and right in his eyes.  He winced and covered his eyes with his arm.  “What is it, baby?”

“Blake!”

The alpha turned and looked into the tarp.  Adam had emerged from the furs.  He had also emerged from his clothing.  His shirt had been pushed over his head and was hanging from the chain.  The rest of his clothing was scattered around in the tarp.  Adam was staring at Blake, pupils blown, skin flushed and sweaty.  The marks of Blake’s teeth were an angry violet on the swollen gland at the base of his neck.  The camp was filled with the scent of omega heat.  Adam arced his back, crawling forward, one hand extended towards Blake.  “Blake!” Adam moaned.  “Alpha!  Please!”

Instantly, Blake was up.  He stopped himself just short of diving on top of Adam and hesitated.  This wasn’t the first time he’d shared a heat with an omega.  But this was different.  This was Adam, his mate.  And for the first time since he was a gangly, awkward teen, Blake wasn’t sure what to do.  He clenched and unclenched his fists, forcing himself to look away from Adam’s obvious invitation, determined not to force him.  “Are you sure, darlin’?” he asked.  “Are ya ready for me now?”

And then Blake was flat on his back, his arms full of Adam as the omega pounced.  Adam’s hands were tugging at Blake’s clothes, pulling his shirt up with one hand even as the other fumbled at Blake’s belt.  “Damned little minx!”  Laughing, Blake scooped him up and carried him back into the tarp.  There, the eager alpha quickly divested himself of his own clothing, not easy to do with Adam all over him, lips licking and pressing hungrily against his own.  “Slow down, baby,” he urged.  “I’m not going anywhere.  That’s it.  I’ll take good care of you, I swear it.”

To his credit, Adam did manage to slow himself down.  For the first time, his hands were free to explore.  Blake let him do it, loving the feel of the slender hands tracing over his body, the bright frisky light in the hazel eyes, and most of all the eager sounds his mate made.  He was already harder than he’d ever been in his life.  Before long, he simply couldn’t stand it any longer.  He reached down, stroking Adam’s penis and finding it as hard as his own.  Moving his hand further down, Blake pressed his fingers into the wetness there.  “You ready, Adam?” he breathed into the shell of Adam’s ear as the omega moaned.  “You ready for my cock?”

Adam only nodded.

Blake had been about to climb on top of Adam when the omega squirmed free of his grasp, shoved Blake back, and climbed on top of him.  Even though he’d half expected his control freak of a mate to do something like this, Blake could only gape in astonishment as the eager omega positioned himself and then slid down, wet and ready, moaning as the alpha’s member sank deeply into him.  The slender body bucked, lithe muscles tensing as Adam rode his mate.

Blake rapidly lost the ability to think.  His hands traced the muscled torso and gripped Adam’s waist, pulling the squirming, moaning omega against him even as he thrust up, sinking deeper than ever before.  The sensation was mind blowing.  Why in the hell had he ever tied this amazing, beautiful creature down, when Adam could respond like this if only he’d been allowed to have sex on his own terms?  He’d been missing out on how the nails scratched down his back, how the mouth pressed greedily to his, how the ankles locked themselves around his waist as he sat up.  Before he knew it, he’d once again sank his teeth into the gland at the base of Adam’s neck, reclaiming his mate.  When he felt Adam’s teeth at his own neck he tensed, certain he was in for another injury.  But Adam’s bite was meant to claim, not injure.  “Mine,” the omega breathed. 

The movement of his lips against Blake’s neck sent chills up and down his spine.  “Yours,” he agreed.  “Always and forever yours.”

Already, Adam’s body was shaking and he was crying out in climax, muscles clenching around Blake’s shaft.  Blake was able to draw a second and then a third climax from him before he peaked himself, his voice mixing with Adam’s, chasing each other’s orgasms as his heat flooded into Adam’s womb.  Adam gave a small cry, and then his body went limp.  He collapsed, bonelessly, against Blake’s chest.

Alarmed, Blake tapped his cheek.  “Adam?”

No answer.  Blake tilted Adam’s head back, noting the pale face, the slack lips and closed eyes.  With a shock, Blake understood.  La petite mort, the little death.  Before now, he’d only heard about it, whispered among his alpha friends about omegas possessed of a near mythic sexual responsiveness, so sensitive that they passed completely out after orgasming.  Until now, he’d believed it was only a story.

As Blake gaped in shock, Adam’s eyes fluttered open.  Blake held him close, desperately stroking his face.  “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed.  “I’m so sorry, baby, did I hurt you?”

Adam shifted slightly and sighed.  “When can we do that again?”

Chapter Text

Adam woke up early afternoon feeling better than he had in some time.  His heat was finally over.  Just as he’d feared, he’d spent every waking moment of it in shameless lust, riding Blake over and over, his body demanding more and more of his mate until he’d lost consciousness and the alpha was completely and utterly spent.  Blake had certainly kept his word, waiting until Adam was ready and then helping him through the heat with marked enthusiasm.  Now the exhausted alpha was deep in a well-deserved sleep.  The two lay on their sides, Adam tucked close against Blake’s broad chest with the alpha’s strong arms around him.

Adam stayed as he was, enjoying the position.  He gently ran his fingers through the curly hair on Blake’s chest, looking up at his mate’s sleeping face.  The experience of his heat hadn’t been nearly as bad as he’d thought it would be.  Knowing he couldn’t help himself had been oddly freeing.  Since he couldn’t stop his omega’s base desires from taking over, Adam had let go of his inhibitions, giving himself permission to throw himself at his mate with wild abandon.  Blake had been happy to accommodate, letting Adam explore and experiment with his body as he wished.  Far from being demure, the eager omega had wanted to try everything he could think of.  For three days, Blake wasn’t the mortal enemy who’d taken Adam prisoner.  For three days, Blake was simply his alpha.  His one true mate.

But for the collar and the chain that kept him trapped at Blake’s side, Adam could have almost forgotten their animosity.

Ah, the collar.  Nice as it was to snuggle in Blake’s arms, Adam was restless and wanted up.  It wasn’t difficult to gently squirm free of the arms around him, but the collar had to go.  He moved carefully around in the tarp, poking through the furs until he found his clothing.  Dressing quickly, he dug about some more and found Blake’s jeans.  Jackpot.  His fingers closed over a key in one pocket.  Eagerly, he tried it in the lock on his collar, but no luck.  It turned easily in the other lock, though, releasing the chain around Blake’s waist.

Now came the tricky part.  Adam carefully tugged on the chain, pulling it out from under Blake.  Fortunately, Blake’s side lying position meant it was easier to pull the chain free.  Adam gave a sigh of relief when it finally came loose and Blake didn’t wake.  He stared for a moment at the sleeping figure of his mate, taking in the long muscular limbs, the peaceful expression, the bite mark he’d left on Blake’s neck, and the scarred, war-torn body that had given him so much pleasure these past three days.  Then he gently pulled a fur to cover Blake’s sleeping form, planted a small kiss on his forehead, and climbed out of the tarp. 

Adam spent some time rummaging through the packs, searching for the key to his collar without success.  Wherever it was, Blake had hidden it well.  Blake had also apparently had the presence of mind not to pack any sharp blades, or anything Adam could use to pick the lock.  Eventually as time went by, Adam was forced to admit defeat.  The collar wasn’t coming off anytime soon.  Oh well.  At least he could move freely.  He carefully wrapped the chain around his waist and tucked the end under the links.  The chain and collar were as annoying as ever, and would be a real liability in a fight, but at least he wouldn’t be tripped.

Adam helped himself to some strips of jerky, stuffed the rest into his pocket for later, and looked around.  He had no idea where he was.  A path wound away from the camp towards the south, probably heading back to the city.  That was the last place Adam wanted to go.  Which way back to his homeland?  Well, west was the most obvious place to start.  If he went too far north, he’d end up in Dude territory, but that was a chance he’d have to take.  One lone wolf on his own shouldn’t attract too much attention.

He spared another long glance to where Blake lay in the tarp.  Part of him, a big part, wanted to stay.  Wanted things to be different.  But he’d never have a better chance to escape than he did right now.  “Goodbye, Blake,” he whispered.

Through sheer force of will, Adam got his bearings and started into the woods, heading west.

****

When Blake woke up, the first thing he noticed was the absence of his mate in his arms.  With a start, he realized that the chain was off his waist, the lock and key discarded to one side.  Blake dressed quickly, pocketing the lock and key as he raced out into the camp and looked around. 

Adam was gone.

The camp still held a trace of Adam’s scent.  Even though his heat had ended, hormones didn’t suddenly turn on and off.  Adam had scented of heat for days prior to its peak, and would continue to do so for at least another day.  The scent was an open invitation to any alpha until then.  It was precisely why Blake had planned on keeping Adam here in the heat camp, to keep him safe until his scent returned to normal.  Didn’t Adam realize that?

With a sinking heart, Blake realized that Adam probably did not.  He thought back over the last three days, recalling how astounded the omega had been to discover how good sex could be.  How eager he was to try new things.  How amazed he’d seemed at the reaction of his own body to Blake’s ministrations, and how over and over again the amazing omega reached la petite mort.  Blake had loved it, thrilled to be part of Adam’s sexual awakening.  Adam knew so much about fighting, but he was completely innocent about sex and his own body.  He hadn’t even recognized the clear signs of his own heat until it was too late.  On heat suppressants most of his life, Adam likely had no idea the danger he was in.

He’d also been unconscious when Blake carried him out here.  Adam had no idea where he was, how far northeast they’d traveled to reach this camp.  He didn’t know the territory.  He had no idea what lurked in the woods outside the safety of their camp. 

You’d have thought the jackass would have at least known not to take off with a chain attached to his neck!  Damn that idiot!  

The Pack Alpha quickly scanned around the campsite.  His expert tracking skills confirmed the worst – Adam had left the camp heading due west.  The omega probably thought he’d eventually find the familiar western territory of his pack.  Blake’s face went pale in horror.  “Adam!” he yelled.  “Adam!”

No answer.  What did he expect?  Why would Adam answer, even if he heard him?

Blake started after his mate, tracking him as quickly as he dared, groaning when he reached the first of the markers a mile outside of their camp.  Adam had walked right past them.  Of course he had.  The city boy likely had no idea what they were, what they warned of.  Heart in his throat, Blake continued to track his mate.  Adam, still reeking of omega heat, was walking unknowingly straight into hell.

****

Adam knelt at the clear stream he’d discovered, scooped some of the water in his hands, and drank.  He kept his expression neutral, but his senses were on high alert.  He’d realized about half a mile back that he was being followed.  It was subtle, a careless snap of a twig here, a sharp intake of breath there, nearly imperceptible if Adam hadn’t been alert to it.  He’d expected Blake to follow him.  This was, after all, Blake’s territory, and his pack was reputed to be excellent hunters.

Now Blake hunted him.  Alright, then.

Adam finished drinking, rose, and carefully crossed the stream, taking care on the moss covered stones beneath his boots.  Casually, he moved forward, letting Blake close the distance, choosing his battlefield.  Then he bolted forward, snatching a fallen tree limb from the ground.  He reached the middle of the clearing and turned, weapon ready.  “Leave me alone, Blake!” he yelled.  “I…”

It wasn’t Blake.  Bloodshot eyes peered out at Adam from beneath a head of filthy, snarled hair.  Bits of debris and dried blood stained the creature’s face and shaggy beard.  It was naked, moving about on mud covered, heavily calloused feet.  Long ragged nails tipped the creature’s hands, and the eyes were those of an animal rather than a were. 

Adam blinked in surprise.  He’d heard stories of feral weres, wolves who had either lost their packs or been driven out and had gone mad, reverting completely to a beastlike state.  But he’d never seen one before.  As he watched, the wretched creature sniffed the air.  Its tongue moving between rotting teeth, it gave a low growl.  “Omega,” it rumbled.  “Mine!”

Adam swallowed hard.  “Oh, shit.”  Apparently, the scent of his heat hadn’t yet faded.  Now this beastlike creature stepped closer with only one goal in mind, and the presence of Blake’s claiming bite on Adam’s neck would do little to deter it.  Drool dripped from its lips as it approached, going full lycan, sniffing the air, growls interspaced with eager whines.  Adam got a good grip on his weapon and hefted it threateningly.  The growls rose again.  Adam narrowed his eyes.  “You should have left me alone,” he called.  “You picked the wrong omega, pal!”

Two quick, vicious hits with his makeshift club later, the feral was making a speedy retreat, yelping in pain like a kicked dog.  Adam breathed a sigh of relief.  But then the snap of a twig underfoot alerted him.  He turned and saw a second, a third, more ferals emerging from the woods around the clearing, surrounding him, sniffing the air and fixing him with greedy eyes.  “Oh,” Adam groaned.  “Shit.”

Surrounded by half a dozen ferals, Adam had only one option.  With a snarl, he charged at the closest, lashing out with his weapon.  The length of wood caught the feral on the right ear and sent him staggering aside.  Adam swung again, knocking back a second, and managed to beat back a third before the makeshift club snapped.  Then he took to his heels, darting through the opening he’d created in the circle of ferals and running for his life.  As he jumped over bushes and dodged around trees, he spotted yet another feral running at him from ahead to the right.  He quickly altered his course, dodging to the left.  His boots caught in the mud, slowing him.  He moved back to the right, heading out of the mud.  But yet another feral appeared ahead, forcing him once more to turn left.  With a sinking heart, Adam realized he was being herded, driven into a fetid swampland.  His boots splashed through muddy water, eyes trying to track all eight ferals and search for an opening he could slip through.  The water was up to his calves, slowing him down while the pack closed in.  He managed to reach dry land, but by now, the pack was right on his heels.  And ahead of him, in the only direction it was clear to run, Adam see the high walls of a jagged peak.  He was being driven right into it.  If he was, he’d have no way out.

Desperate, Adam bolted right, head down, and plowed through a feral blocking his way.  For a moment, he nearly broke through.  But suddenly the chain went taut around him and he found himself spinning to the ground, his own momentum twisting him out of the loops around his waist.  The end of his chain had come undone during Adam’s flight.  All the feral had to do was grab it.  Now the feral was eagerly moving hand over hand up the chain towards the omega while the rest of the pack closed in.  “Oh, shit!”  Adam dove on the feral, fangs slashing at the tendons in its arms.  Howling in pain, the feral dropped his chain.  But now even more had arrived.  The pack closed in, a dozen feral alphas fixated on Adam with mindless intensity driven by animal instinct.

Adam was on his feet in an instant.  He sprang into action, hands, feet, and fangs driving back his attackers.  He had one bleeding out on the ground and three more running for cover in the first frantic moments of the fight.  But again and again, one of them managed to grab his chain, choking him, jerking him off balance until he finally went down.

He managed to throw off the first three ferals that pounced on him, but he was simply outnumbered.  Pinned down, he cried out, struggling frantically as seven feral weres held him down while an eighth perched on his chest.  “Get off me!”

The feral on his chest leaned forward, shoving Adam’s chin back to expose his neck and Blake’s claiming bite.  Stinking breath came closer, nuzzling at the base of his neck, rotting fangs poised to bite and claim.  Adam strained with all his might.  “No!  Blake!”

And suddenly the weight on his chest was gone.  Looking up, he saw his startled attacker dangling by the throat from a taloned hand covered with telltale white fur.  The White Wolf’s lips curled back from his fangs.  “You dare not!”

Adam had studied and memorized the files on Blake and his generals.  He knew all of their preferred attacks, the strategies they employed, their signature moves, and their nicknames.  He knew that Blake’s snowy white hide was rare, even among Blake’s own kin, not seen for five generations.  The appearance of a white wolf was a boon to any pack, and struck dread in their enemies.  For the white fur signaled the existence of a true monster.

Unlike the detailed strategy descriptions in the files of his generals, Blake Shelton’s had contained only one word: Berserker.

Chapter Text

Adam had a moment where he felt embarrassed.  His fellow omegas swooned over tales of dashing alphas rescuing omegas in distress.  They’d always irritated the piss out of Adam.  He prided himself on his ability to defend himself.  Never in his life had he ever cried out to an alpha for help.  But being held down like that, with the filthy creature moving to claim him…?  He’d never been so glad to see Blake Shelton.  Unfortunately, Blake’s arrival didn’t mean the assault on Adam had stopped.  Four ferals still pinned him, too driven by lust to realize what was happening in the clearing behind them.  For the time being, Adam was too busy struggling with them to pay much attention, either.  But suddenly white furred talons grabbed one of his attackers in each hand and brought their heads sharply together.  They met with a dull thud.  Limp bodies went sailing across the clearing as Adam focused on the remaining two.  Beating them back, Adam turned to assist Blake.

What he saw made him freeze in place.

The White Wolf’s fur was dripping with blood and gore.  The clearing had become a slaughterhouse, the smells of blood and bile and death nearly overwhelming.  The ferals were in pieces that covered the ground.  As Adam watched, the White Wolf grabbed a feral by the back of his neck and one hip.  Lifting the filthy creature into the air, the talons dug deep, muscular arms straining and twisting.  There was a yelp of pain and a sickening crack as the feral’s spine snapped.  Then the berserker simply tore the feral in half.  Foam flew from curled lips as he hurled the two pieces aside and charged forward, claws raking down the back of one of Adam’s retreating final attackers.  The feral howled in pain and the White Wolf was on him, grabbing the feral’s chin in one hand and shoulder in the other.  With a quick twist, the feral’s head was suddenly facing backwards.  Then the White Wolf gave a yank, and a headless body tumbled to the ground.

Never in his life had Adam seen such a scene of complete and utter horror.  But the worst of all were Blake’s eyes.  Their gentle blue had changed into mindless, bloodshot orbs.  They rolled wildly in his head, lost in berserker rage, betraying no conscious thought as he chased down the final feral.  Baring his fangs, the White Wolf bit down hard at the base of the feral’s skull with a loud crunch.  A moment later, the feral’s skull was cracked open like an eggshell.

And then the wild, enraged eyes fixed on the only other creature left standing in the clearing.

Thinking fast, Adam dropped to his human form and threw himself face first onto the ground.  The White Wolf.  Berserker.  Goes into a mindless rage with a massive increase in strength, speed, and ferocity.  Ignores all pain and injury until killed or brought out of the berserk state.  Until then, he’s unbeatable.  The only way I’m going to survive this is if I can show him I’m not a threat.  He almost snapped before, when Gwen tried to kill me after my fight with Pharrell.  How did she bring him down out of it?  “I’m not here to fight you!” he called aloud as the berserker approached.  “I’m Adam!  Blake, stop!”

No response.  Not a hint of recognition in the white furred face.  Adam yelped as he felt himself taken roughly by the arms and lifted to his feet.  The eyes that stared hungrily down at him were the eyes of a rabid beast.  Bloody spittle dripped from fangs that opened and drew closer.

Adam threw his arms up as much as he could to try to protect himself.  “Blake, stop!” he cried.  “Please, Blake, it’s Adam!  You know me!  I’m Adam!  Adam!”

The monster paused.  Its nostrils flared, sniffing at Adam.  Adam lowered his arms and nodded encouragement.  “Yes, you know who I am.  I’m not a threat.  I’m…”

With a bestial roar, the White Wolf fetched him a sharp blow.  Adam flew backwards, landing in a heap on the ground.  For a brief moment, the world went dark.  He came around to the sound of his own moans.  The world spun from the force of the blow.  He shook his head to clear it, and then looked up to see the berserker stalking closer, bloody fangs opening for the kill.

He’s way too far gone to recognize my name.  Ok, Levine, time to give a little.  

Quick as a flash, Adam got to his knees.  He let his hands rest, palms up, against his thighs and dipped his head down and to the side, exposing Blake’s claiming bite.  His eyes stayed fixed demurely to the ground, the picture of perfect submission.  “Blake,” he called softly.  “I’m your omega!  Don’t hurt your omega!”

He heard the White Wolf pause.  With a low growl, the gore covered muzzle came closer again, sniffing once more at Adam.  Adam didn’t move.  He kept his eyes carefully down.  “I’m your mate.  Don’t hurt me, Blake.  I’m yours, remember?  Your omega.”

The growl stopped.  Once more, taloned hands closed around his arms as the White Wolf dropped to his knees, sniffing hard at Adam’s neck.  “That’s it, scent me,” Adam encouraged.  “It’s me, Blake.  I’m yours, don’t hurt me.”

It seemed to be working.  The grip on his arms loosened as the White Wolf continued to scent him, and Adam dared to relax.  “Listen.  You have to get control of yourself, ok buddy?  You have to…  Oh shit.  Dude, this is so not the time for this!”

Once again, Adam was pinned down on his back in the clearing, pushed down by a single powerful hand on his chest.  The White Wolf straddled him and licked at Adam’s claim bite, leaving a trail of blood on his skin.  Adam grimaced in disgust.  “Gross, man!  I’m gonna get diseased or something!  Get off me and get it together!”  He pushed against the shaggy white chest.  He may as well have tried to move a mountain.  “Come on, Blake!  Let me up!  You’re pushing me right into a rock, dammit, get off me!”  Then he sighed.  “Oh hell with it.”  Adam turned his head, further exposing the bite to the berserker’s eager tongue.  “Yeah, it’s me.  This is seriously disgusting, dude, but if that’s what it’s going to take to get you to stop going nuts?”

“Mine,” Blake growled.

“Yeah, yeah.”  Much to his relief, the wild insane light of the berserker was fading from the White Wolf’s eyes.  “Hey, Big Country?” Adam called.  “Do you think maybe you could let me up now?”

The White Wolf took hold of Adam’s collar and gave it a slight tug.  He appeared to be upset.  “Yeah, it bothers me, too,” Adam said hopefully.  “How about you take it off me, buddy?”

But the White Wolf was frowning, hand tightening around Adam’s collar.  “Mate ran away!”

Uh oh.  This was dangerous ground.  The threat of being disemboweled was probably over, but Blake’s mind was far from clear.  Still ruled by his out of control emotions, there was no telling what the berserker might do.  “I’m sorry,” Adam said.  He kept his voice as low and humble as possible and his gaze submissively down.  “I hurt you, and I’m sorry.  I just wanted to go home.”  He dared to gently unhook the taloned fingers from his collar.  “Let me up.  I won’t run away.”

Amazingly, the White Wolf got up.  Adam closed his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and got to his feet.  “We probably should get out of here, Blake.  The ones who ran off might still…  Hey!  What are you doing?  Stop!”

Growling, the White Wolf had once again wrapped the end of the chain around his own waist, locking it in place with the lock he’d produced from his pocket.  Then, to Adam’s horror, he hurled the key with all his strength deep into the woods.  “Mine!”

“Son of a bitch!”  Anger overriding self-preservation, Adam caught Blake’s muzzle with a roundhouse right.  “Why did you do that?  Now neither one of us can fight!”

For the third time, Adam found himself thrown to the ground on his back.  He shoved at Blake, but the White Wolf caught his wrists and pinned them down on either side of his head.  “Stop it, you crazy motherfucker!  Let me up!  We gotta find that key!”

The White Wolf snarled and Adam froze, eyes on the bloody fangs inches from his face.  Adam had cause to regret his temporary loss of sanity that had resulted in punching a berserker in the face and braced for the afterlife.  But then the nostrils flared, sniffing at the omega.  Adam groaned and again offered his neck.  Blake was still too far gone to listen to reason, and Adam clearly wasn’t going anywhere until the alpha was coherent again.  He grimaced, resigned for another round of sloppy licking.

Once again, it worked.  And a short time later, Blake’s familiar blue eyes were blinking down at him in confusion.  “Adam?  Adam!  You’re bleeding, I hurt you!”

****

Blake’s memories were hazy at best.  He recalled racing after Adam, terrified to realize his unsuspecting mate was walking blindly into feral territory.  But then the bond link carried the sensations of acrid, unwashed bodies, alpha stench, and omega distress, and Blake had stopped tracking and started running as fast as he could.

By the time Blake had crashed into the clearing and saw his mate under assault, the red haze was already falling.  Then one of them had leaned down to bite Adam, to claim what was his, and Adam had cried out his name.  In an instant, the Beast he had held in check since the final battle of the war had exploded free.

That was the last clear memory Blake had.

He dimly recalled locking the chain around his waist after the fight, his confused mind thinking only of keeping his mate from running away and being attacked again.  But his next clear memory was straddling a clearly unhappy Adam, pinning his wrists and licking greedily at his claim mark.  He’d panicked when he saw the blood on Adam’s neck.  Adam had explained that the blood wasn’t his, and Blake had glanced down at the gore covering his once white fur and understood.

But the swelling bruise on Adam’s cheek was another story.  Blake had struck Adam.  He had struck his mate!  For all his threats to beat Adam, Blake secretly couldn’t imagine actually laying a hand on the smaller wolf no matter what he did.  He’d killed his share of weres, alpha, beta, and omega alike, but Adam was different.  His threat that first night to cut Adam’s tongue out had been pure bluster, and so was every threat to do him any sort of physical harm he’d made afterwards.  He’d been guilt ridden over the brutal way he’d taken Adam out of the city and had stayed up all night tending to his omega in a feeble attempt to make up for it.  The knowledge that he’d struck Adam, and that the bruise on Adam’s lovely cheek was his doing made him want to beat his head against a rock out of shame and sheer self-disgust.

Adam, for his part, wanted no part of his heartfelt apologies.  The omega didn’t seem concerned about the mark on his cheek.  But he was livid to be once again tethered to Blake and told Blake about it in very descriptive terms.  Together they’d searched the dense undergrowth for over an hour, trying with no success to find the key to the chain.  Adam had wanted to keep searching, but then a chance shift in the wind brought the scent of ferals to them.  The two had made a hasty retreat.

Now Adam walked sullenly next to Blake, arms crossed over his chest and lower lip projecting in a half scowl, half pout that Blake found frankly adorable.  As they walked, Blake trailed out, gathering small orange flowers.  When he had bunch, he handed half to Adam.

Adam cocked an eyebrow.  “Um, thanks?”

“Crush them and rub them into your skin,” Blake explained, demonstrating.  “They’re called citronella.  They’re the reason that we haven’t been eaten alive by bugs.”

“Is that what you were doing?”  Adam crushed some of the flowers and rubbed at his arms.  “I guess I thought that was foreplay.”

“Well, it kind of turned into that, but there was a reason behind it.  In this case, it might also help hide our scent.  Especially yours.”

“Is it still that strong?”

“Yeah.  By tomorrow it will be better, but you’re still in some danger for a while yet.”

Adam finished with the citronella and looked up at Blake.  “Something I’d like to know.  Those ferals.  What are they doing out there?  Where’d they come from?”

Blake instantly sobered.  “Sometimes wolves just go feral and abandon their packs.  No one knows why.  But most, if not all, of those back there were from my pack.”

Adam blinked.  “Your pack?”

Blake nodded, his eyes steadfast on the trail ahead.  “They’re family groups that were driven out.  When they go feral, they generally abandon their pups right after birth, so most of them will die out in a generation.  But meantime, well, you’ve met them.  Remember those white marks on the trees you passed?”

“Yeah, what were they?”

“Warning sigils.  My pack put them up to outline the feral territory.  We patrol regularly, keep them in the boundaries, and since every wolf in my pack knows better than to cross them, the ferals are pretty contained.”  He frowned.  “I do wonder why we haven’t seen the border guards, though.  They knew we were at the heat camp.  I would have expected some of them to be around, just to make sure the ferals didn’t bother us.”

Adam cocked an eyebrow, confused.  “Why bother with guards and borders at all?  Why don’t you just go out in force and wipe them out?”

Blake sighed.  “Two reasons.  One, I didn’t have the manpower during the war, and I still don’t now.  We’re spread pretty thin, moving into the new territory…”

“You mean looting my home,” Adam snapped bitterly.

Blake winced.  “Yeah.  Anyway, that’s the first reason.  But the second reason is more honest.  To put it bluntly, the ferals outnumber us by a ratio of at least two to one.  Yeah,” he said, seeing Adam’s face.  “We keep them in their territory and just wait for them to kill each other or die out.  They’re not intelligent enough to do raids, so a big group working together like we just faced is pretty rare.”

“I don’t know,” Adam said slowly.  “They kind of did seem to have some intelligence.  When they were trying to capture me, they were working together to herd me into a swamp, Blake.  I think they were actively trying to trap me.”

Blake snorted.  “Bullshit.  They’re animals.  Don’t have enough basic intelligence left in their heads to figure out how to take a proper shit, much less trap someone.”

“I know what I saw,” Adam insisted.  “It was animal instinct that they came after me in the first place, but the way they took me to ground?  They’re smart enough to work together.  Then there was the one who tried to claim me.”

Blake growled low in his throat and instinctively moved closer.  “Careful, Adam.  I’m still pretty on edge.”

“Ok, ok!” Adam called, gently patting Blake’s arm.  “Nothing happened, remember?  They didn’t hurt me, and I’m right here.  But this is something you need to hear.”

Blake got a firm grip on his emotions.  “Alright.  What is it?”

“Well, it seems to me that they functioned as a pack, complete with a Pack Alpha,” Adam said.  “After they caught me, I would have expected mindless animals to start fighting each other over the right to…  Er, anyway, they didn’t do that,” he said quickly, noting the thunderclouds forming on Blake’s face.  “Instead, the rest of the pack worked together to hold me down and let one alpha make a move uninterrupted.  That sounds like a Pack Alpha to me.”

Blake frowned down at the ground.  “I really hope you’re wrong.  Those things are bad news to anyone who ventures into their territory, and lately they’ve been giving our border guards a time keeping them contained.  If that was a Pack Alpha I killed, let’s hope it’s the only one.  If those animals ever get together into a real pack, then we’ll have to…”

Adam realized that Blake had stopped moving a moment before the chain would have jerked him to a stop.  “Warn me, dumbass!” he complained.  “What’s the fascination with the ground?”

Blake didn’t answer.  His blue eyes were moving rapidly over the ground as Blake crouched down.  He fingered the branches of a thorny brush, sniffed the air, and then rose, moving closer to Adam.  “We got company up ahead.”

“How do you know?”

Blake pointed out signs as he explained.  “Disturbed moss there from feet.  Broken branches on the bush.  Spider’s web broken there, and here, the stems of this plant have been crushed.  There’s signs of passing all through this area.”

Adam frowned.  “What do they want?”

“You,” Blake said bluntly.  “Adam, you still smell like heat, and a feral can’t tell the difference between now and when you’re about to enter it.  I don’t know what happened to the border guards, but I don’t see any sign of them having been through here for some time.  It’s possible your scent has been gradually making its way into their territory, and they’ve just been following it.  When you came strolling in here, well, of course they’re going to come after you.”

“Oh.”  Adam didn’t know what to say to that.  “How many do you think we’re dealing with, here?”

“I’d say…”  His eyes flicked around.  “…Anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen ferals, traveling together.”

“Another pack.”  Adam shook his head.  “You got all that from a few scattered twigs and moss?  That’s amazing, Blake!”

Blake looked up to see if he was being teased, but the western omega was looking closely at the signs Blake had pointed out, an expression of keen interest on his face.  He smiled.  “Thanks.  I was a hunter before I was Pack Alpha.”

“Well, Big Country, we’ve got a bit of a problem here,” Adam said.  He tugged meaningfully on the chain.  “I’m kind of handicapped, and I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t berserk while I’m attached to you by my neck.  If you decided to just grab the chain and use me as a flail, that would be kind of bad for me.”

“Yeah.”  Blake sighed.  “I only have so much control, Adam.  The Beast is always there, just beneath the surface.  I think if you stay close, keep me aware of your presence, that I’ll have a chance.  At least I’ll try.”

Adam nodded.  “Thank you.  So what’s the plan?”

Blake rose.  “First, I need to see where this pack is headed.  If they’re going where I think they are, we’ve got a real problem.”

“Why?”

“Because those are the sigils up ahead that mark off their territory,” Blake answered, pointing.  “And they’ve clearly gone past them.”

Ok, that did not sound good.  “Where do you think they’re going?”

“The heat camp.  And from there, it’s a straight shot back to the city.  Come on, Rockstar,” he said, starting to move.  “I need to do some recon.”

Chapter Text

Blake and Adam crouched on a small buff overlooking the heat camp.  Below them, a group of ten ferals milled around, sniffing the air and rooting through their supplies.  This was a mixed group, alphas, omegas, and a few that even appeared to be betas.  The largest alpha of the group had moved away, intent on the marked trail leading out of the camp.  She stared down the trail, head cocked as though listening.  Suddenly, she barked harshly.  Immediately, the other ferals rose, taking their spoils and moving to follow her.

As soon as the ferals were gone, Blake swore softly.  “Shit!  You were right.  It shouldn’t be possible, Adam!  I’ve dealt with these things all my life, and they’ve never shown this kind of intelligence or pack mentality.  But you’re absolutely right.  They are a pack, a real mixed pack this time, and I’m betting that’s only a small portion.”

“Well if they’re a mixed pack, they’re probably not after me, right?” Adam asked hopefully.

“They’re working together as a pack, following a Pack Alpha.  They are absolutely after you, Adam, but the prize just got a lot bigger.  Now they know we have food, as well, and that trail is an obvious invitation for more.  They’re going to go right down into the city, and I got no way to warn them!”

“We can take them, you and I?” Adam suggested.  “Just get the key and take this collar off me…”

“I can’t.”

Adam ground his teeth.  “Dammit, Blake!  Fine, then just take the chain off the collar and lock both ends around yourself so it doesn’t come loose.  It will still hinder you a bit, but the two of us can take down ten ferals!”

“You don’t get it,” Blake explained patiently.  “I didn’t say I won’t, I said I can’t.  I don’t have the key.”

Adam stared flatly at him.  “You don’t have the key?  You brought me out here with no way to get this collar off of me if something happened?  Seriously?  What the hell is wrong with you, Shelton?”

“I was a dick, ok?” Blake exclaimed.  “I knew I had to have the key to the chain so I could move you.  But before I took you out here, I gave the key to your collar to one of the betas back home because I was pissed off and knew I had no intention of unlocking it.  I’m sorry!  I fucked up!”

Adam swore creatively at him.  Blake nodded, accepting the abuse without complaint.  “Later on, you can give me a good swift kick in the ass.  I’ll bend right over for it!  But right now, we need to focus on the problem at hand.  Bottom line, we’re stuck like this until we can get back to the city.  And we can’t just follow down that path because if the border guards aren’t there, and they clearly aren’t, more ferals are going to come through here.  All we need is to get caught between two packs!”  He swore again.  “I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, Adam.  Nothing about this makes sense.  If the border guards were down, we should have known about it, and I don’t get why the ferals are suddenly so spooky smart.  Something’s up!  We gotta warn the city!”

“Ok, let me think.”  Adam frowned in concentration.  “Alright, back home, before the war, I cut my teeth on the Dudes.  They’re this group of betas who ran off, but didn’t go feral like these did because they formed their own pack.  They’re still crazy as hell, but they’re smart, way smarter than these.  Now, they didn’t attack much because they didn’t have the numbers…”

“…A problem ferals do not have!”

“…But when they did, they had a specific point where they all gathered together and then went to attack together.  And they’d use various signals, usually bird calls, to coordinate their attacks.”  Adam gestured after the ferals.  “Didn’t it look to you like that Pack Alpha got some kind of signal?”

“Yeah,” Blake agreed, looking at Adam with new respect.  “Yeah, it did!  You think they’re coordinating something?”

“I think it’s very possible.  These may have come out here for me, but there is something much bigger going on here.  This is your pack territory, Blake.  Surely you know another way back to the city?”

Blake nodded.  “Yeah, there’s two, actually.  One through feral territory…”

“Let’s skip that one.”

“…And the other through the Wastelands.”

“Not sure I like the sound of that one, either, but I guess we don’t have a choice.”  He nodded and got to his feet.  “Alright.  Wasteland bound!”

****

“I kind of get why you call this the Wasteland,” Adam commented.  His boots made crunching sounds over the hard gray and black ground where nothing grew.  The odd patches of ground were scattered in the rugged terrain around a low rocky hill up ahead.  Bits of rock ground under the soles of his boots, sending up puffs of dust that stuck to his legs as he walked.  Around them, the air was still, seeming heavy with ominous silence.  “This from the human war?”

“You could say that,” Blake answered evasively.  “The human war was the catalyst.  But it was pretty much the catalyst for everything.  This was just the ultimate result.”

Realizing Blake wasn’t about to explain any further, Adam grew silent and kept walking.  Ahead, he could see a large hill made of scattered bits and pieces of jagged gray rock.  Beyond that, the omega saw a gathering of blackened projections in a straight line.  They seemed oddly familiar.

A round curve of gray rock caught the toe of Adam’s boot, nearly tripping him.  “Careful,” Blake cautioned needlessly.

“Yes, thank you,” Adam grumbled.  He was frowning down at the object on his boot.  It was pitted and rounded, splintered on one end and coming to a blunt protrusion on the other.  “Hold on a minute,” he called.  As Blake paused, Adam reached down and picked up the strange object.  Hazel eyes widened in shocked recognition.  “Blake!  This is a rib!”

“Yeah,” Blake confirmed.  “It’s all bones we’re walking through right now.  These were all funeral pyres, and that?”  He indicated the hill.  “That’s where we piled the bones to make way for the next group.”

Adam quickly tossed the rib away and looked at the hill, picking out skulls, vertebrae, pelvises, long bones…  “How?” he asked in shock.  “Why?”

Blake cocked an eyebrow at him.  “You don’t know?”

“I don’t understand!  That entire hill is made out of charred bones, and all these patches we’ve been walking through are funeral pyres?  Blake, what happened here?  War?  Was this another city your pack destroyed?”

“No,” Blake answered.  “This used to be my pack’s main city.  These were all my people.”  Noting Adam’s expression, he sighed.  “Now you’re starting to understand why we have so many ferals.  My pack isn’t even a fraction of what it once was.”

“But what happened?”  Adam’s eyes were full of horror.  “What killed so many of your pack?”

“The simple answer is, we killed each other.”  Blake stared moodily at the sky.  “We’re not going to make it back to the city before night falls.  We’re going to have to find a place to settle down for the night.”

“Here?  Seriously?  You want to set up camp next to a huge pile of bones?”

“No, it’s way too exposed.  We need to head further in towards the old city to find a safe place.”  Blake shifted the bundle under his arm.  “The truth is, nothing’s really safe out here.  For obvious reasons, we don’t wander out this way often.”

Adam squinted at the line of jagged stumps ahead.  “Those are burned down power line poles, aren’t they?  That’s your pack’s old city, just up ahead?  Why don’t we just camp out in one of the buildings?”

“Not much left of the buildings,” Blake replied, starting to walk.  “But it’s probably as good a place as any.  You know, there were rumors a while back that some runaway betas had been setting up out here, trying to make a go of it.”

“Betas?” Adam brightened.  “Maybe Carson came this way?  I’d sure like to see him again!”

“From what you told me, I don’t think he’d be too keen to see you,” Blake reminded.  “But the fact is, if he was looking for a beta settlement, he probably did pass through here.  I’ll look for sign.”

But if Carson had been in the ruined city, he was long gone.  The city itself was a scene of complete destruction.  Not a single building was left intact.  Individual broken walls stood sentinel over charred rubble.  Shattered glass glittered in the sun.  In the center of the city, Adam recognized the remains of what could only be a pack hall.  Scorch marks on the brick walls bore mute witness to the violence that had destroyed the city.

Adam looked mutely around, stunned by the obvious signs of violence.  “Who attacked you?”

“No one,” Blake replied.  “I told you, the short answer is that we did all this to ourselves.  Now how about we pick a spot and I set us up for the night before it gets too dark to see what we’re doing?”

“Fine,” Adam sighed.  “But you’re going to have to tell me what happened here, Blake.”

“Yeah, I know, but not now, ok?”  Blake’s voice was unusually sharp.  The orange light of the setting sun was deepening the shadows on his face, giving him the appearance of being far older than he was.  His eyes were haunted hollows.

Adam was more a hindrance than a help when it came to setting up camp.  Blake patiently instructed him in what to do, and then just as patiently corrected Adam’s mistakes.  Eventually, the pair was nominally situated for the night.  Blake had carried most of the supplies they’d taken in their hurried rush from the heat camp.  Sure enough, another group of ferals was following after them.  The two had barely managed to escape being detected.

Blake took inventory.  The larger tarp had been stretched overhead, protecting them from the rain that was clearly going to fall by morning, if the gathering clouds were anything to go by.  All of their food had been stolen, meaning all they had was the jerky Adam had in his pocket.  They’d grabbed the one missed canteen of water and taken a few furs to keep warm and protect them from the ground, but that was it.  They had no means of starting a fire, no more fresh water, no weapons, and still no way to warn the city of the danger headed their way.  But there was nothing more he could do.  With a sigh, Blake crawled under the tarp and collapsed, burrowing into the fur, trying hard not to remember what he’d been doing the last time he lay under this tarp with Adam.  He and Adam had washed off the worst of the blood and gore at the stream on their way back to the camp, but he still felt dirty, exhausted, and heartbroken.

Adam puttered around a bit outside of the tarp.  He glared back at Blake every time his chain brought him up short, but Blake had closed his eyes and didn’t react.  Finally, it grew too dark to see more than a few feet ahead, and Blake finally spoke.  “You may as well come in here.  I promise, I won’t lay a hand on ya.”

Adam stubbornly remained where he was.  But when the first heavy drops of rain began to fall, Adam cursed and climbed in, keeping as far from Blake as he could while still out of the rain.

The silence quickly became awkward, each lost in his own thoughts.

“Why’d you run away, Adam?” Blake asked.

“Why did your pack burn down its own city, Blake?” Adam asked at the same time.

Silence again.

“I asked first,” they both declared in unison.

“You did not!”  Again, in unison.

“Jackass!”

“Asshole!”

“You’re a damned idiot, Rockstar!  Running off into unfamiliar territory with no water, no supplies other than a pocket full of jerky, and a chain around your neck? What the hell were you even thinking?”

“I was thinking that I needed to try to get back to my homeland, and I’d never get a better opportunity!” Adam retorted.  “I knew you’d come after me, but I had to take the chance!”

“Why the hell would you think that you had to take the chance?” Blake wanted to know.  “I told you I wouldn’t force you!  Hell, Adam, I did my damnedest to stay away from you until I was sure you wanted me.”

“I didn’t want you, dumbass, I just needed your knot.  I was in heat!”

Blake winced.  “So that’s all I am to you?  Just a knot to get you through heat?”

“What the fuck do you want from me, Blake?” Adam yelled.  He jerked on the chain.  “Look at what you’ve done to me!  Think about all the shit you put me through!  Would you have stayed?”

“No,” Blake confessed.  “And that’s precisely why I chained you up through your heat.  Because I knew you’d run away!”  He signed.  “I blew it with you, didn’t I?  Unless you’re in a heat, you’re never going to see me as anything more than a monster.”

“Yeah, well, you do kind of turn into a mindless killing machine that nearly took my head off.”

Blake immediately lapsed into a hurt silence.  Adam was surprised to discover that he felt a little ashamed of himself.  “Although I have to admit, that was sexy as hell, the way you fought all those ferals for me,” he offered.  “Up until the part where I thought you were going to shred me, that is.”

“Thanks.  I think.  Bottom line is, I get that you have every reason to hate me.  I just wanted a chance, Adam.  One chance to prove myself to you.  I knew I couldn’t take you back to the city until your scent died down, so I was banking on today.”  He sat up.  “I had it all planned out.  I was going to sit and talk with you today, Adam, really talk.  Tell you everything, explain why things got to the point where the war happened, why I became what I became and did what I did to your family, all of it.  I wanted to make you understand.  And then I wanted to ask for a chance to win your heart.”  He snorted.  “I even had this romantic evening planned out for us, and this big speech where I’d get down on my knees and beg you to forgive me and just give me one damned chance to show you a different side of me.  It was so fucking stupid!  And then I woke up and you were gone, and I guess reality hit.  I knew then that you’d never stay, no matter what.  I never stood a chance.  There was no way you could ever learn to love me, not after all I’d done!”

Silence from the smaller man.  In the faint light, Blake could see Adam as he sat with his back to the Pack Alpha.  He’d wrapped himself into a ball again and was sitting with his chin on his raised knees, staring moodily out into the night.

There was a sudden sound, startling and unexpected in the night, and Adam jumped in alarm.  A moment later, he was pressed against Blake, staring wide-eyed into the darkness.

Blake laughed despite himself.  “Seriously?  You’ll take on generals and a pack of ferals, but you freak over a lil' ol’ hoot owl?”

“What the fuck was that thing?  It sounded huge!”

Blake roared laughter.  “Damned city boy!  It’s a little bird, about that big!  It couldn’t hurt you if it wanted to, Rockstar, now would you please calm down?”

Adam had difficulty believing Blake.  He’d never heard anything so terrifying in his life and his mind had been imagining all sorts of horrible things making the sound.

And then they both realized that Adam was currently seated in Blake’s lap with his arms around the alpha’s neck, pressing himself into the broad chest while Blake held him close.  Blake blushed and immediately let go.

“Don’t,” Adam ordered.  “Ok, it’s a fucking bird, but it scared the shit out of me and I’ve had a hell of a day.  I almost got gang raped by a pack of ferals earlier, remember?  Now I can’t stop shaking!  I hate to ask but, um, do you think you could maybe just hold me for a little bit longer?”

“Alright.”  Blake cuddled Adam close again.  The little guy really was shaking.  Adam was clinging to him like a drowning man.  Blake gently rubbed one hand along Adam’s back and shoulder, keeping the other tight around him.  “It’s ok, darlin’, I got ya.  Whatever you need.”

“Whatever I need?”

“Sure, baby, what do you want?”

“I want you to tell me a story.”

Blake blinked in the darkness.  “Huh?”

“You said you wanted to explain,” Adam said.  “You wanted to sit down with me and tell me everything about why you became what you became and why you attacked my pack.  So do it now.  I want to know, because the guy here with me now just doesn’t mesh with the guy who did all that, ok?  I’m confused as fuck!  So help me understand, Blake.  Tell me your story.”

“It’s not a nice story, Adam,” Blake warned.  “Maybe it’s better told by the light of day?”

“No.  Tell me now.”

Damned control freak omega!  Oh well, he told himself.  Adam had the right to know.  May as well get this over with.  “Alright,” Blake said aloud.  “If you really want to know, I’ll tell you everything.  Get comfortable, this is going to take a while.”

Adam snuggled in against Blake’s chest.  “Comfy.  Spill it, Shelton.”

Blake took a deep breath and began.  “Just like everything else, it started with the human war.”

Chapter Text

Blake's voice rose and fell in a soft cadence in the darkness, rumbling out of the big chest as Adam leaned on it.  “The human war destroyed most of the fertile lands to the east, so more and more weres came west.  You’d think that would cause a lot of conflict, but that wasn’t the case, not at first.  The initial contact with us was friendly.  They traded with us, exchanged mates, and in time we ended up one big pack with territory from where it is now clear out past the plains, where I grew up.  My immediate family didn’t move out here until things really started getting bad.  Before that, my entire family was spread out through the pack, keeping an eye on things and reporting back to my grandfather, but we didn’t take any real role in running the pack.  Instead, we had a series of minor Pack Alphas that all reported to my grandfather, and later my father.  The pack was so big that no one was really completely sure just how many members we had, but our best estimate was in the millions.  And that was the problem.”

“The story is that the easternmost minor Pack Alpha got greedy and started raiding his counterpart to the west.  But from what I’ve been able to find out, the truth is that the land simply gave out right when a drought hit.  There was no clean fresh water, no fertile crop lands, no grazing lands for the livestock, not even any wildlife to hunt and take some of the pressure off.  That Alpha was desperate when he went to his neighbor.  But the drought had hit the western Alpha’s lands just as hard, and he didn’t have enough for his own people, much less to share.  So my grandfather made a decision.  The eastern territory would be abandoned to allow it a chance to heal, and that section of the pack would merge with the western.”

Adam frowned in confusion.  “But if the western section couldn’t even support itself?”

“Grandfather had a solution to that,” Blake explained.  “The head alpha of each family unit of the eastern group faced off with their counterpart in the west.  It was a fight to the death.  The winner’s family group claimed the loser’s territory, and the loser’s family was driven out.  That divided the territory, reduced the population and, subsequently, created the ferals.”

“That’s what you meant when you said they were mostly family groups,” Adam realized.  “But now the combined pack was still in a bad situation because the new territory wasn’t much better than their old.  So they moved west again, didn’t they?  And the whole thing repeated itself.”

“Yeah.”  Blake’s blue eyes seemed far away.  “The drought and famine just got worse and worse, and the eastern pack sections kept moving west.  And that’s when the ferals started raiding, and disease sprang up.  Family groups got so desperate they intentionally went feral just to try to survive.  By the time my grandfather passed and my father took over, it was so bad that the size of the pack had been cut in half.”

Something in Blake’s voice alerted Adam.  “Blake?” he asked.  “You said your grandfather passed, but the way you said it…?”

“My father killed him,” Blake said simply.  Not a trace of emotion entered his voice.  “Dad brought us, me, my brother, my omega sister and our mother, out here specifically to challenge him.  He said that grandfather’s bad decisions had resulted in all the trouble.  But my father’s ideas about how the pack should be run?”  He sighed and stopped, looking at Adam.  “Dad was, to put it simply, a tyrant.  The first thing he did was challenge every one of the minor Pack Alphas, killed them all until it was only him.  Then, when the diseases really got bad, he decided to ‘weed out the weak.’  He sent out his troops and brought back every were that was diseased, elderly, crippled or weakened in any form.  Then he had them all killed.”  Blake jerked his head back towards the charred ground.  “My brother, the one I told you died of the flu?  That’s only partially true.  When he got sick, our father slit his throat himself and burned him right there.”

“Holy shit,” Adam breathed.  “Why didn’t your pack revolt?”

“Because it worked.”  Blake shrugged.  “That ended the disease, and then he moved against the betas and the older omegas, even those who could possibly still bear pups.  And then he slaughtered or drove out the entire family units of the lowest-ranked alphas until the population was manageable again.”

“Great solution,” Adam growled.  “But I don’t understand how you can say it worked?”

“Because now there was enough to go around,” Blake explained.  “I mean, everything was rationed, and hunger was something I knew a lot about, but at least we weren’t starving anymore.  When the rains came, we thought the worst was over.  But then the rains stopped, and it all started again, drought, famine, disease, desperation.  We had lotteries to determine who could bear pups and my father started slaughtering the sick and arranging alpha death matches over resources again, but it just got to be too much.  In the end, we ended up doing this.”  Blake gestured, indicating the ruined city.

 “Your pack destroyed its own city because of disease?”

“Burned it down with the sickest wolves still inside,” Blake confirmed. 

Adam took that in.  “So this building, the one we’re in right now…?”

“All of them, really,” Blake confirmed.  “It was horrible.  I begged father not to do it, Adam.  Actually got down on my knees and begged, and all he did was hit me and yell that he was ashamed that his son, born with white fur, was nothing more than a weak pitiful pathetic pup.  He actually threatened to kill me, too, burn me up with the rest.  I believed he’d do it.  So I did nothing to stop the burnings.  I just stood back and watched my pack burn their own wolves alive inside their houses.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense,” Adam complained.  “Blake, you’re a berserker!  How could your father…?”

Blake snorted laughter.  “The white fur means I’m born with the potential, Adam.  But I wasn’t born knowing how to use it.  And even at moments like that, when I could feel the Beast wanting to take over, I wouldn’t let it.  I knew that if I ever let it out that I’d never be able to control it again.  So I fought it.  I fought what I was for as long as I could, and I kept searching for some way out of my situation.”

“Your situation?”

“With my brother dead, I was destined to be the next Pack Alpha,” Blake explained.  “I tried everything I could think of to get out of it, Adam.  I never wanted to inherit what my father and his father had established!  But meanwhile, things just got worse and worse.  We set up a new city, the one we have now.  And that’s when we took note of your pack’s territory.”

“So, it was never about conquest, was it?” Adam asked quietly.  “You attacked us because you were desperate.”

“We actually held off for as long as we could,” Blake said.  “Even father was reluctant to attack your pack.  You were all healthy, strong weres and we were just barely holding on.  But we didn’t have a choice.  At first, we got nowhere.  Your pack was just too strong, Adam, too firmly entrenched, and we had to come over the mountains to get to you!  It wasn’t long before my father was killed in battle, and the entire pack turned to me.  Well,” he amended, “most of the pack.  You remember my uncle?  The one that bored the tits off of you?”

Adam winced.  “Yeah, he challenged you for leadership because he thought you were too weak.”

“That he did,” Blake confirmed.  “But not at first!  My uncle, Nathan was his name, it was like he’d inherited the worst traits in our family.  And he was insanely jealous of me.  That’s something I realized right away, from the moment I met him.  Nathan hated me, Adam.  At first, I thought he was jealous of my place as Pack Alpha.  If I hadn’t known he’d be as bad or worse than my father, I would have actually offered to step aside for him.  But that wasn’t it.  I mean, yeah, he wanted to be Pack Alpha, but that wasn’t why he really hated me.  He was jealous of my white fur.  It was like he believed that I’d stolen it from him somehow by being born with it.  And he seemed insulted that the Beast it signaled never emerged.  So he took it upon himself to ‘help.’”

Even in the darkness, Adam could see how Blake’s face twisted itself into a bitter grimace.  “The first thing he did was take me prisoner.  He told the rest of the pack that he needed to ‘unlock my potential.’  Apparently the way to do that was to destroy me, destroy everything about me, and turn me into an animal.  So he locked me up, in that cell I had you, actually.  Then he went to all the alphas in my family, challenging them one by one.  If any refused, they’d be killed, but not until after their own families, their omegas and their children, were slaughtered in front of them.  So they had to agree.  And then Nathan would bring me out into the square, and I’d have to fight that alpha to the death.  If I refused, well, Nathan had my mother and my sister.  They’d have to watch, and if I hesitated, Nathan would beat them, and if I refused or was defeated, he’d kill them on the spot.”

“Wait!” Adam exclaimed.  “These were alphas in your extended family?  That meant they were his family too, right?”

“The first alpha I fought was his sister, my aunt,” Blake confirmed.  “Later on, Pharrell came up with a theory.  He thinks it was all about the white fur.  Nathan was trying to wipe out our family because he never wanted to see someone else with white fur.  He was trying to wipe out the bloodline that had created me, passed that strength to me while ignoring him.”  He paused.  “Looking back, I think Pharrell was right.  Crazy as that is, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

Adam swore softly, clinging just a little tighter to Blake.  The alpha’s voice had gone soft and monotone as he spoke, emotionless.  Almost as if he was afraid that if he showed his emotions, he’d lose control altogether.

“That’s how it was.  Every night, they’d chain me up in the dungeon with my sister, and Nathan took my mother to his own bed.  Between fights, my sister Amy and I had each other, and our mother would join us during the day, but every night, Amy would cry herself to sleep.  And then they’d bring me back out for the fights and make me kill over and over.  Until finally, it was just him, me, and my mother and my sister.  And we all knew he’d kill me.”

“I had four friends that I was close to.  You know who they are.  Gwen, Usher, Pharrell and Christina.  My mother contacted them, and they plotted to get me and Amy out the night before I was supposed to fight Nathan.  Mom knew she couldn’t get away, so she chose to stay behind and distract Nathan while they broke me and Amy out of the dungeon and tried to help us escape.  But my uncle and his men caught us before we even got out of the city.  And that’s when he dragged me back into the square and challenged me for leadership.”  Blake sighed.  “To be honest, it wasn’t much of a contest, Adam.  I was a good fighter in my own right, I suppose, and I’d managed to survive to this point.  But the fact was, by then, I was so beat up and exhausted I couldn’t put up much of a real effort.  Meanwhile, Nathan was bigger, stronger, healthier, and had been fighting all his life.  I think part of me, a big part, just wanted him to kill me.”

Adam sucked in his breath.  He was astonished at the feeling of sorrow that produced, the thought of Blake dead before they’d even met.

Blake had gone on, still speaking that same low monotone, nearly oblivious of Adam’s presence as his eyes gazed into the past.  “My friends had all been beaten half to death, and they were being held at each corner of the square to watch me die, knowing they’d be next.  There was nothing I could do.  Nathan beat me until I couldn’t stand and could barely breathe, going on about how the white fur had been wasted on a weak excuse of a were like me.  And then my mother and Amy went after him, trying to keep him from killing me.  They were just omegas, certainly not fighters like you.  But my uncle tore their throats out right in front of me.”  He looked down.  “That’s when it happened, Adam.  That’s when the Beast finally broke free.”

Adam listened silently as Blake recounted how he’d emerged for the first time from the berserker haze to find a trail of broken bodies leading out of the square and the four friends who would become his generals prostrated at his feet, calling out to him, bringing him out of his mindless state.  Horrified, Blake vowed to never allow the Beast out again.  But over and over, as the campaign against the west continued, the red haze would fall.  It was the turning point in the war, his own pack rallying behind the savagery of the White Wolf even as the western pack drew back in horror.  He described how his generals had learned the best way to talk him down, even as they touted his invincible berserker status.  The once gentle group of friends became vicious, leaving heads on spikes in their wake, brutally slaughtering their enemies, and committing atrocity after atrocity, desecrating the western lands in an ongoing campaign of terror against the stronger western wolves.  It had reached the point where the very sight of Blake’s white fur would send the western wolves fleeing in panic.  Spearheaded by Gwen, the generals escalated, setting up ceremonies to further boost the morale of their own troops while terrifying their enemies.

“Like my mother?” Adam asked bitterly.  “That’s why you did that to him?  To show what a badass you are?”

“I’m not proud of it, Adam,” Blake sighed.  “But we were still desperate.  The fact is, this rain going on here now is the first all month, and we were all still in desperate straits.  That war was won more on a psychological basis than a physical.  My pack used to number in the millions, and now we were down to less than ten thousand wolves.  We were crossing mountains into unfamiliar territory, tired and hungry and sick, to face a strong healthy force trying only to defend their homeland.  So it became a war of terror.  Your pack called me a monster, and that’s precisely what I was.  It’s what I became, to help us win.  We needed to bring the ferocity of the White Wolf into everything we did.  So we were razing houses, brutally killing and torturing and maiming left and right, everything that war brings.  We got hard, Adam.  Cold.  Vicious.  We had to!  If we didn’t take your territory, we were all going to die.  That kind of desperation does things to you.  So I walked away from what I was and became the White Wolf.  And only my generals know how much it hurts me.” 

He glanced down at the shorter were, his fingers gently stroking Adam’s cheek.  “You’ll never know how close you came to beating us, Adam.  A berserker was no defense against booby traps, guerrilla attacks and poisonings!  I’d been just about to eat that soup before the camp cook realized it had been tampered with.  After that, I had a beta taste my food, and that’s how I caught the next three poisonings.  Gwen, she’s the most loyal member of my pack.  She’d do anything for me, throw herself into a fire if that’s what it took to protect me.  So she was just wild to learn someone was trying to poison me!  But even without her personal connection to me, Gwen knew that, without the White Wolf, we stood no chance.  That’s why she went after you so hard, and finally captured you.”

“Yeah,” Adam said.  “She hounded me hard, tortured my friends for information about me, and finally trapped me in that cave.  I was ready to die when they caught me.  They tied me so tight I could hardly move, and spent the entire trip making the most disgusting lewd comments.  They said Gwen had ordered that I be brought before you, so didn’t they dare touch me.  But the things they said!  I was never what you’d call delicate, but between the comments and the way they kept leering at me, my skin was crawling.  So by the time they finally let my legs go and I could fight a bit, I was ready to kick some ass.  That’s the state I was in when they dragged me out to you.  I thought, after what I’d done when they captured me, you’d give me a warrior’s death, but, well, you had other ideas.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was war,” Adam said simply.  “I should have known I’d be treated like a captured omega no matter what, but the truth is, my father spoiled me.  He never treated me like an omega until the very end.  I guess that’s why, even after what the men were saying to me, what they told me you’d do to me, I chose not to believe it until… until you showed me otherwise.”

Blake held him close, grimacing.

Adam swallowed.  “And you were right.  The White Wolf terrified us, Blake.  In the end, when you were really closing in on my father, he lost nearly as many troops to desertion as he did to battle.  But honestly, after what you did to my mother?”  He shook his head.  “A big part of father died with him.  By the time you came for him, dad was ready to die.  Just like I was, when Gwen’s men caught me.”

“Everything my generals and I did, we did because we were desperate and saw no other choice,” Blake said.  “I know it doesn’t help, or change or excuse what we did.  But it was never personal, no matter how it seemed otherwise.  My generals are really the only family I got left.  They risked death, and were nearly killed, to try to save me.  I’d do anything for them, Adam, even become the White Wolf.”

Adam was chewing on his lower lip.  “You tried to explain this to me, didn’t you?  That morning, after you claimed me, you wanted to explain yourself.  Why you became what you became.  But I was too angry to listen.”

“I don’t blame you for not listening,” Blake replied.  “You were right, what you said.  It was nuts to try to explain myself to someone I’d just raped the night before!  Why would you listen?  I wouldn’t have done.  And I gave ya no reason whatsoever to think I was anything but a monster.”

Adam was quiet for a moment.  “Let go of me.”

Blake let him go, but Adam didn’t get up.  Instead, he shifted, sliding around until he was seated between Blake’s legs, his back against Blake’s chest.  He drew his legs up and crossed his arms on them, using them to rest his chin.  “So what happens now?” Adam wanted to know.  “If you take me back to the city, they’ll ask you to kill me.”

Blake nodded.  “I know.  Unless you submit, swear not to run away?”

“You know I can’t do that.”  Adam fingered his collar.  “You could let me go?”

“And you know I can’t do that.”

Adam nodded.  “What are you going to do?”

Blake glanced at Adam.  “I have no idea.”  Blake cautiously slid his arms around Adam’s slender waist.  Adam didn’t move or protest.  Blake simply held him for a moment, listening to Adam’s steady breathing.  He hesitated, and then plunged ahead.  “Adam, from the day I met you, I have done nothing but one terrible thing after another to you.  I’ve raped and humiliated you, kept you chained and tied and locked up, tricked you into a fight where you could have been killed just before a heat.  Then the way I took you out to the heat camp?  How I locked your chain to keep you on your knees?  It’s no wonder you ran away!  Let’s not even mention the fact that I hit you!”

“Wasn’t you,” Adam said gruffly.

“It was,” Blake insisted.  “I may not have been in my right mind when I did it, but I can’t escape the fact that I did it.  Adam, this probably seems pretty minor to you, considering what else I’ve done to you.  But I can’t stand it.  I can’t imagine myself ever striking you!”

That surprised Adam.  “You threatened to beat me on several occasions, Blake!  I believe your exact words were that you’d, and I quote, beat the everloving shit out of me?”

“I lied,” Blake confessed.  “I hated the way my father used to beat my mother and my sister.  Then my uncle claimed my mother and took over the job.  Amy was only thirteen when Nathan killed her.  If he hadn’t, he would have basically sold her off in exchange for more power.  I berserked for the first time because I saw them die.  But over time, when more and more I became the White Wolf and I left Blake Shelton behind, I forgot how badly that hurt me.  Seeing them die.  Knowing I hadn’t protected them.”  He paused, gathering his thoughts, and dared to tighten his grip around Adam’s waist.  “My point is this.  I can’t let you go.  I don’t think I can go on without you.  But I’ll never force you again, not for sex, not to submit, not for anything."  He closed his eyes, holding Adam tightly against him.  "I meant what I said, before your fight with Pharrell.  If you love me, Adam?  I will spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

“You raped me,” Adam said, not looking at Blake.  “You claimed me against my will and took my innocence away.  You tied me down and used me every night.  It’s like I wasn’t even there, Blake, like I was just a hole you used to relieve yourself!”

“I will never forgive myself for that.  Not even if someday, you do,” Blake insisted.  “Looking back, I can’t even imagine how I did that to you, to you, of all people, my sweet, powerful, beautiful Adam!  It feels like a bad dream that I’m only now starting to wake up from.  I can’t look at the me that forced himself on you and reconcile it with who I am now.  Who I was before the war.”  Blake hung his head.  “I can’t ask you to forgive me.  I can’t take it back.  But I can change how it goes from here on out.  I want to make this work, Adam.  I want to make us work.  I want a chance to prove to you that you can stay with me, that we can be happy together.  Please, won’t you give me a chance?”

Adam’s silence spoke volumes.

Blake slumped in rejected despair, letting his hands fall from Adam’s waist and lie limply on the ground.  He was about to get up and move away when Adam spoke.

“Do you think you can stop when I tell you?”

Blake froze.  “I do.  I refuse to hurt you again.”

“There’s a part of me that still hates you, Blake.  Maybe it always will.  That part of me is why I’m going to run the first chance I get, I won’t lie.  But you’re my true mate.  My omega needs you.  I need you.”

Blake turned to Adam, the light of hope shining in his blue eyes.  “I won’t do anything you don’t want.  I swear it.  I know it’s probably crazy to say this when you’re leashed to me, but I’ll say it anyway.  You have the control, Adam.  If you don’t want something, I’ll stop, and anything you do want, it’s yours.”

“Then I’ll try.”

For a moment, Blake couldn’t believe what he’d heard.  His mind was playing tricks, hallucinating Adam saying what he’d desperately needed to hear.  But then the omega shyly pushed Blake down and tucked himself into the alpha’s side, pulling the larger man’s arm over himself like a comforting blanket.  Blake rolled over, wrapped him in his arms and just held him tight, burying his face in Adam’s hair, praying that the omega would think any tears that he felt were simply drops of rain.

Chapter Text

Blake and Adam were up early the next morning and didn’t bother to break camp, too eager to get back to the city.  Blake’s long strides ate up the ground as he traveled, setting a punishing pace.  Adam found himself practically jogging to keep up.  But before long, they’d reached their destination.

They heard the commotion before they could see it.  Exchanging a glance of alarm, the two warriors ran towards the city. 

Too late.  The ferals had already attacked, and their numbers were staggering.  Adam counted at least thirty just in the square as he and Blake barreled into the fray.  Most of the fighting appeared to be concentrated there.  The air rang with howls, shrieks, and snarls as Blake’s pack and the ferals savaged each other.  Gwen and Usher stood back to back in the middle of the battle in the square, protecting each other as they faced off against overwhelming numbers, both bloody and panting.  But Gwen’s eyes brightened as the unmistakable white fur came into view.  “Blake!  Thank God!”

Blake was too busy to answer.  He was struggling to keep the awareness of Adam at his side from being overwhelmed by the familiar red haze.  Adam glanced at him, seemed to understand, and stayed close, frequently brushing against the Pack Alpha as they fought to remind Blake of his presence.

Blake’s pack was battling for their lives.  Ferals ran through the streets, baying and howling, attacking everything and anything including each other.  They took anything that wasn’t nailed down.  A desperate couple battled to save their terrified child.  An omega screamed from over the shoulder of a feral trying to carry her off, her arms reaching desperately for the alpha that gave chase.  The butcher shop was on fire, as were several other buildings.  Smoke filled the streets, adding to the confusion.  The produce stand was demolished.  Ferals with armloads of food, clothing, and household goods fought to keep their booty, racing towards the dubious safety of the wilderness outside the city.  Two ferals were even dragging what appeared to be a torn couch through the streets.  Alphas raced around, trying to defend their pack and their city.  A bunch of omegas, mostly collared, and even a group of betas joined in, armed with their natural weapons or whatever they could find, inexpertly fighting, doing what they could to aid in the defense of the city.

Blake struck the closest feral with a powerful blow, sending him spinning towards Adam who dispatched him with a sharp kick.  Adam darted forward, slipping the links of his chain around the neck of another feral.  He planted both feet in the feral’s back and jerked with all his strength.  There was a satisfying crunch, and the feral dropped.  Wrapping the links of chain around his fist to supplement his strength, Adam unleashed a series of punches, driving ferals back towards Gwen, who was quick to tear their throats out.  She glanced at him for half a second, dark eyes expressionless, before returning her attention to the battle in time to link her arms with Usher.  The limber wolf leaned back against Gwen and expertly kicked out.  There was a yelp, a snap of broken bones, and two more ferals ran howling from the square.

After that, the battle was a blur.  Adam was aware of standing in a loose circle with Blake and his generals, all four of them instinctively working together to protect each other while driving back their enemies.  When it was suddenly, shockingly over, none of the four could believe it.  Some small skirmishes were still going on in the city, and the air was filled with the cries of the wounded.  But Blake’s pack had won the day.

Blake looked around.  Gwen and Usher were bleeding, but nothing appeared to be serious.  More serious wounds could be seen out in the square and down the city streets, where injured wolves lay waiting for help.  Betas in the fire brigade dashed about with buckets of sand, trying to stop the blazes that kept popping up.  The omega that he’d seen nearly carried off was clinging to the alpha who’d rescued her.  He’d been badly torn on one arm, but it appeared he’d be alright.  Bodies of ferals littered the streets, dotted here and there with members of his own pack.  Already, families searched for their missing loved ones, and the wails of the bereaved began to rise.

Adam’s hazel eyes met Blake’s blue as, panting from exertion, the two dropped back to human form.  Impulsively, the omega dashed towards him, wrapping the surprised Pack Alpha in a bone crushing hug.  “You did it!” he cheered.  “You controlled the Beast!”

“You did it,” Blake murmured, holding him close and breathing in his scent.  “It was you being here that gave me the strength.  I did it for you.  I love you so much, Adam!”

Seeming to come back to himself and suddenly shy, Adam pulled away.  A small bashful smile curved his lips.  He glanced at Blake and the smile grew wider.  Blake beamed in return.

And then Gwen gestured and suddenly Adam found himself thrown forward onto his face in the dirt.  “Hey!” he yelled, feeling his arms pulled back, the tug of ropes on his wrists.  “Stop!  Let go of me!  Blake!”

Furious, Blake started forward.  His hands were ready to grab the first of the idiot alphas who had just tackled his mate.  “Take your fucking hands off of him, before I beat your asses into next week!”

But Gwen moved to block his way.  He tried to move past her, but she stepped with him, resolutely barring his path.  “Gwen, what the hell are you doing?” Blake yelled.

“Securing the prisoner,” Gwen replied.  Her face, and that of Usher who had moved up to stand next to her, may have been made from granite.

“Let’s get that chain off of you, Blake,” Usher called, collecting a key from a beta.  “Then it’s time we sent Levine back to the dungeon, don’t you think?”

“The dungeon?  Vampire’s balls!” Blake swore.  “He just defended the city!  We can’t just throw him back into the dungeon after…!”

Gwen moved forward and gently cupped Blake’s face in her hands as Usher undid the chain around his waist.  “Blake,” she said.  “Levine isn’t just your mate.  He’s also an enemy warrior.  Yes, he fought for us here today, but what choice did he have, chained to you?”

“That’s only because…!”

Gwen gently stroked Blake’s gunmetal hair, her dark eyes pleading as she looked up at him.  “It doesn’t matter,” she insisted.  “He’s still an enemy warrior, and as such, we can’t let him wander free.  Especially not now with ferals out of their territory and all these injured in the streets!”

“He just helped fight the ferals!” Blake roared, pulling sharply away from Gwen.  “Why can’t you see that?  He just helped save this city!”

“He is an enemy warrior.”  Gwen’s voice was steady, but her face was full of pain.  “That’s what he’s been telling us all along, and that’s what he is.”

“Unless you can tell us something different?” Usher prompted.  “Blake, can you tell us that he’s changed?  We can let him wander free, and he won’t attack anyone or try to escape?”

Blake looked down at Adam, his eyes pleading.  Adam looked mutely back up at him, straining to free himself as Gwen’s men finished tying his hands behind his back.  The two shared a long glance.  But then Adam looked away. 

Blake’s heart sank.  He sighed and shook his head.  “No,” he confessed.  “He can’t be trusted.  He’ll absolutely try to run away, and he told me so.  He tried to escape from the heat camp and wandered right into feral territory the day after his heat.  That’s what got the ferals stirred up.” 

He ducked his head, looking away from Adam as his generals turned cold eyes towards his mate.  “You telling us this is his fault?” Usher asked.  “He’s the reason that the ferals attacked us?”

Blake nodded, feeling miserable.  “The truth is, it’s likely that the ferals tracked his scent back to the heat camp, and then just followed the trail here to the city.  Adam didn’t mean it.  He didn’t know any better!  But yes.  He’s probably the reason this attack happened in the first place.”

“Then you know what we have to do,” Usher urged.

“I’ll do it, Blake,” Gwen offered.  “You don’t have to be involved.”

“It wasn’t his fault!” Blake protested.  “I mean, it was, but he didn’t do it on purpose!  He had know idea that the ferals were out there, or what the sigils meant.  All he was trying to do was get back to his old home.  And he’s been on heat suppressants all his life.  He didn’t know he still smelled like heat!  If anyone’s at fault here, it’s me.  I didn’t tell him anything!  I never warned him.  He didn’t have any way to understand, didn’t even know how much danger he was in until they attacked him.  And if I’d have been even one second later when I found him, he’d have been claimed and worse!”  Blake sighed.  “The whole mess was just one big accident.  Adam never wanted any of this to happen.  He’s just a damned city boy who didn’t know any better!”

“Blake, look around you!” Gwen exclaimed.  “I know he’s your mate, but you need to step back and look around with the eyes of a Pack Alpha!  We lost a lot of wolves today.  We’ve never had a concentrated attack like this in all the years we’ve lived in this city.”

“The ferals have never ventured this far out of their territory before,” Usher added.  “They must have overwhelmed the border guards, and the size of this group!  None of us has ever seen anything like it.  We could easily have been overrun here today, all because an omega smelling like heat wandered into their territory!  Blake, you can’t just overlook that!” 

Gwen gently stroked Blake’s cheek.  “Please, Blake, think rationally.  Anyone else, you would have killed by now!  He can’t be treated differently just because he’s your mate.  If Adam Levine is responsible for this, then Adam Levine needs to die!”

Blake again pulled away from her.  “Just throw him in the dungeon and we’ll talk about it later, ok?  I cannot deal with this right now!”  Blake turned away from everyone and tried to control the shaking of his body, the pounding of his heart.

Adam hadn’t said a word through all of it.  His eyes seemed distant as he was pulled to his feet.  But they remained fixed on Blake while Gwen’s men led him, unprotesting, from the square.

Blake felt something sharp twist inside of him.  “Holy shit do I need a drink,” he groaned.  “Meet me in the hall.  I need to know what’s been going on while I’ve been gone.”

Chapter Text

By the time Blake settled into his big red chair in the hall and Usher had provided him with his third mug of beer, he’d already gotten a fairly good idea of the state of his pack.  In front of him on the table were extensive lists of injuries.  Most of the food in the city had been looted, and the farmlands weren’t able to supply enough to go around.  They’d already made arrangements to have food brought in from the new western territory, but it would take days to arrive.  Meanwhile, the city was in a state of chaos.  Gwen had been hard at work buffing up the city’s defenses, while Usher worked on the logistics.  The two generals were trying hard to do the work of four, and it showed in the dark circles under their eyes, the fatigue causing their shoulders to sag.

“It was a concentrated attack,” Gwen reported.  “They gathered in the wilderness outside the city and all attacked at once, as if on command.  Once they were inside, they scattered into individuals like we would expect, but that initial strike nearly overwhelmed us.”

“Something has changed,” Usher insisted.  “They’re not acting anything like they have before.  Before, the ferals would travel in groups of two or three, but never for long.  They nearly always are loners, too crazy to function as a group.  But this?  This was different.”

“When they attacked Adam, they were herding him, a big group of them,” Blake confirmed.  “Then when they captured him, the rest of the group held him for one.  They’re smarter than they’ve ever been.  I don’t understand it.”

“We know who might have understood it,” Gwen growled.  “But thanks to a certain omega, he isn’t here, is he?”

All three stared at Pharrell’s empty chair.

“You’re right,” Blake sighed.  “Pharrell had more chance than anyone of figuring this mess out, and Christina’s help would have made a hell of a difference in that fight.  But they’re not here, are they?”

“And whose fault is that?”

Usher glared at Gwen.  “This isn’t the time, Gwen.”

Gwen pounded a fist on the table.  “This is precisely the time!  Blake, it is time to talk about what was going on in this pack before the ferals attacked.  Your mate didn’t just lead the ferals to us, he left us wide open and vulnerable to attack!”

Blake blinked in surprise.  “Huh?”

The two generals began to explain the state of the pack prior to the attack.  The city had no power.  Usher explained that the betas at the power plant had walked off the job.  Gwen reported similar problems in the farmlands.  Even before the attack, they’d suffered acts of vandalism.  The hall itself had two broken windows, and multiple other buildings had been damaged as well.  Graffiti was everywhere.  “Rights for omegas” “Beta lives matter” “Down with alpha rule” and “Gender equality for all” were commonly repeated phrases seen on a cursory look.  Intermingled among them were crudely drawn hands displaying the loyalty gesture for the western pack.  The message was clear.

“Even Ben’s acting out,” Gwen complained, referring to her mate.  “He keeps crying and throwing things, upsetting the baby, wanting to know where the rest of his children are.”

“Ben?”  Blake blinked in surprise, thinking of Gwen’s omega.  He wasn’t sure what surprised him more, that Ben was acting out, or that Gwen had mentioned him at all.  As a rule, Gwen reacted badly to any mention of her mate, and never brought him up herself.  “Ben wouldn’t say shit if he had a mouthful!  Wait, what’s he talking about, the rest of his children?”

“The betas!” Gwen exclaimed, exasperated.  “He had a litter of five, four betas and our alpha.  But the western omegas have him all worked up!  They’ve got this story going around about a beta named Carson that’s given our omegas and betas wild ideas.  Now Ben thinks he should raise the betas.  The betas, Blake!  And it was that bastard Levine that’s been spreading it!”  She bared her teeth, her eyes flashing in anger at the thought of the omega.  Then she caught herself, looking guiltily at Blake.  “No offense to you, Blake.  But the truth is that Ben’s far from the only one.  That son of a bitch hasn’t even been in the city for nearly a week and he’s still nothing but trouble!”

“Yeah, I heard the story, about Carson,” Blake said, troubled.  “Thing is, I saw both betas and omegas fighting today.  They certainly weren’t doing very well, but that’s mostly because no one ever took the time to teach them how to fight.  Even so, they definitely made a difference in how that fight ended.  Is it really so bad to let Ben raise your beta pups?”

Apparently so.  Gwen and Usher were staring at him in something like horror.  Blake wisely changed the subject.  “What are we going to do about the power plant?” he asked.  “The torchlight really is not doing it for me, y’all, and we really need power to be able to defend ourselves against any more feral attacks.  Do we know where the missing betas went?”

“Near as we can tell, they went west,” Usher reported.  “We sent a group after them, but they had too much of a head start.”

“Dammit!”  Blake sipped moodily at his drink.  “How’d it happen, at the plant?”

“They overpowered the supervising alphas, tied them up, and just walked out,” Usher explained.  “They were real quiet about it, too.  According to the alphas, it happened right at shift change, when the night workers were going off and the daylight crew was coming on.  The night crew had loaded up extra fuel in the generators, so the plant kept on going until that ran out.  Next thing we know, the city’s gone dark and we had no idea why.  By the time we realized what had happened the betas were long gone.”

“Every beta in the pack with knowledge of how to work in the power plant is gone?” Blake asked incredulously.

“Noooooo,” Usher said, looking uncomfortable.  “There are betas with the knowledge, just not enough to fill all the shifts.  And they, um, refuse to train anyone else.  We tried beating them, and that just made more of them run away.  Then we found out that a bunch of omegas, our own eastern omegas, helped them escape!  It’s the same with the farmlands.  The pack is falling apart, Blake!  It’s chaos!”

“But now that you’re back, you can end it,” Gwen urged.  “I’m sorry, Blake, but it’s time to kill Adam Levine.  Do that, and this ends.”

“Or,” Blake countered, the steel in his voice belying the ice in his veins, “I turn him into a martyr.”

Gwen’s sculpted eyebrow shot up.  “Are you speaking as the Pack Alpha, or as his mate?”

“No,” Usher called.  “Gwen, he’s right.  The omegas and betas have turned Levine into some kind of superhero!  We could take him into the square and tear his throat out right now, and it would only make things worse.  Bad as he is alive, he’d be twice as bad dead!  They rallied behind him before.  If he died at our hands, they’d practically worship him!”  He shook his head.  “There’s only one real way to end this.  The reason he’s got such a following is because he keeps beating us.  He’s taken down two generals now, and the omegas and betas think he’s invincible.  We gotta show them he’s not.  We need to put that damned omega in his place!”

“What do you mean?” Blake asked cautiously.

“I mean, we have to force him to submit, publicly,” Usher urged.  “We have to show the omegas and betas that Adam Levine is no hero, just a smart freak of an omega who picked up some serious fighting skills and knows how to use them.  And the only way to do that is for me to challenge him to a duel.”

Gwen stared flatly at him.  “You must be joking.  You’re going to give him another duel?  Usher, what are we going to do if he beats you?  It will be three months until he goes into heat again, and by then this pack will be scattered to the winds!  You’ll have to face him at full strength.  And if he ends this fight the way he’s ended the last two…?”

“I know,” Usher replied calmly.  “I’m ready.  Blake, with your permission, I would like to challenge your mate to a duel.  Will you set it up?”

Blake glanced questioningly at Gwen.  She pressed her lips tightly together.  “It’s a terrible risk,” she said.  “Not to impinge your skills, Usher, but Levine is one hell of a fighter, and you’re fighting him at full strength.  And if he beats you, it’s just me to stand with Blake!”  She sighed and shook her head.  “But we don’t have a choice.  If we can’t break Levine, this pack will break instead.  If that happens, we’ll be sitting ducks the next time the ferals attack.  As much as it pains me to be focusing on a damned omega when we need to be worrying about what is going on with the ferals?  I agree.  We need to deal with Levine before we can worry about the ferals.”

Blake felt cold.  He quickly drained his mug and got to his feet.  “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Wait,” Usher called.  “About those little side bets?  What did he want last time?”

“Pharrell steps down, I leave him alone for two days, and I stop sleeping on top of him,” Blake recounted.  “Pharrell wanted him to submit, of course, and to let Christina return as my general.”

“Then I’ll ask for Christina and Pharrell,” Usher declared.  “And his submission to you has to be immediate, unconditional, and public.  Make the offer and give him his two days.  Then I’ll face him.”

Chapter Text

If Gwen and Usher could see him now, Blake doubted they would believe it.  He’d sent the betas away, directing them to guard the dungeon and not let anyone in.  Now he sat in Adam’s cell, leaning against the wall where Adam’s chain was once again attached.  The cell door was open, the key just outside of it.  Blake hadn’t brought the keys to Adam’s chain and collar, not trusting himself.  While Adam was still chained to the wall, the open door was little more than symbolic.  But Adam seemed to appreciate the gesture all the same.  It had brought a softness to his glorious eyes that had immediately melted all the coldness in Blake’s heart after his meeting.

Blake’s right arm was draped over Adam’s shoulders, while the fingers of his left hand were threaded through those of Adam’s right.  Blake had just finished relaying the events in the hall and Usher’s challenge.  Adam hadn’t said a word since.  The omega was leaning against Blake, hazel eyes staring at nothing.  Blake rested his cheek on top of Adam’s head, occasionally planting a kiss on his hair.  For a long time, neither spoke.  When Adam finally broke the silence, his voice was low.  “It’s not going to end, is it?” he said.  “I started something here, and now it’s out of control.”

“There had to be some kind of reckoning, after that attack,” Blake confirmed.  “I wasn’t sure what Gwen would suggest, but I should have suspected a duel.”

Adam only grunted in reply.

“Could you pretend to submit?” Blake suggested.  “Just to settle everyone down?  You know I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want.”

But Adam was shaking his head.  “I couldn’t do that to my people, Blake.  They depend on me now more than ever!”

“This is really the wrong time for a social revolution, Adam,” Blake pointed out.

“When is it a right time?” Adam retorted.  “They’ve been beaten down all their lives!  They’re fighting now because they just want a better life, and I have to fight for them.  But how many alphas do I have to fight before that happens?”

“At least three,” Blake replied dully.  “Usher, Gwen, and me.”

“I can’t fight you, Blake!” Adam exclaimed.  “I was sitting here thinking since they locked me up again, running everything over in my head.  When they first captured me, I honestly expected you to kill me.  I’m still not sure exactly how it worked out that I ended up fighting your generals, but I had my strategies in place.  Christina, all I needed to do was make her mad.  She takes herself so seriously that I knew if I booted her, she’d lose it and I could beat her.  Pharrell was harder.  I had to weaken him as much as I could right at the start because I knew I couldn’t outlast him otherwise.  As it was, he nearly beat me.  And I’ve got strategies for Usher and Gwen, as well.  Maybe they’ll work, maybe they won’t.  But it doesn’t matter.”

Blake looked at him.  “Why’s that, baby?”

“Because even if I could fight you, I can’t win,” Adam confessed.  “I’ve known that all along, Blake.  No one could expect to win a fight against a berserker!”

“I don’t get it,” Blake said slowly.  “This whole time, right from the start, all you wanted to do was fight me.  In fact, that’s why you agreed to fight my generals.  Even more than being left alone, you wanted to fight me!  Why would you want that if you didn’t believe you could win?”

“Because I wanted to die,” Adam said simply.  “You’d taken everything away from me, and I had nothing left to live for.  I wanted to fight you because I wanted you to kill me.”

Blake startled.  “That was your plan?  Let me kill you?”

Adam nodded.  He leaned his head against Blake’s shoulder and sighed deeply.  “I thought you were a monster.  But after what you told me, what you showed me?  I understand why you did what you did.  I know why you became the White Wolf.  And I can’t blame you.  You did what you had to do to survive.  I can’t say I’d have done any different.  What choice did you have?”

“So you forgive me?”

Adam shook his head.  “No.  It’s going to be a long time before I can forgive you for what you did, Blake.  But I’m not angry anymore, not about the war.  I understand why you did it.”

The pair grew silent once more.  Blake gently kissed the top of Adam’s head.  “We’ll start those two days of leaving you alone when I leave here, this afternoon.  That will give us both some time to take a breath and figure out what it is we want to do, where to go from here.  Meanwhile, I’ll get you something to pass the time.  Any preferences?”

Adam brightened.  “I’d love some books, maybe some puzzles?  Although with no power, reading or working on puzzles is going to be limited to daylight hours.”  He looked down, suddenly bashful.  “Of course, the one thing I’d really want…”

Blake nudged him.  “What is it?  What do you want, baby?”

Adam squirmed.  “You’ll make fun of me.”

“Maybe.  Tell me anyway.”  Blake grinned at him.

Adam growled.  “Damn your dimples!  Alright, I’d like a guitar.”

Blake blinked in surprise.  “You play?  Adam, do you sing?”

“Weeeeell, kind of?  I’m not any good at singing, but I used to be pretty good at the guitar!”  He ducked his head.  “Since the war, I’m kind of out of practice.  I understand if you don’t have a guitar.”

“No, actually, I do have one,” Blake said slowly.  “I haven’t played, or thought about it, in a long time.  But you can only have it on one condition.”

Adam eyed him.  “And that is?”

“You have to play, and sing, for me.  At least one song!”

Adam groaned.  “Gah, alright!  But only if you return the favor.”

Blake eyed him.  “What makes you think I can sing?”

“Because I’m not deaf.  Your voice is like honey, Blake.  Anyone with a speaking voice like yours has to have a singing voice to match.”

It was Blake’s turn to be shy.  “Ok, moving on.  Is there anything else you’d like?”

Adam considered for a moment.  He snapped his fingers.  “I know!  Could you have someone take me out for some exercise?”

“They’ll have to tie you up,” Blake warned.  “You’re still an enemy warrior, and I can’t let you loose without causing serious trouble.”

Adam scowled, but nodded.  “Yeah, whatever.  At least I’ll get some fresh air.  I can’t stand the inside of this cell.”

Blake sighed.  “I know the feeling.”

“Yeah, I guess you do, don’t you?”  He looked inquisitively at the alpha.  “You and your sister Amy, you were locked here, in this cell?”

Blake nodded.

“Is that why you locked me in here?”

“Honestly, Adam, I’d forgotten about it.”  He grimaced, noting the look on Adam’s face.  “I didn’t forget, but I made myself not remember it, if that makes any sense.  I know I specified this cell when I had you locked up.  But if you’re asking was it intentional?  No, not on any level I was aware of.  I buried the memories until you asked me to think about how it felt, to be chained up and helpless.  That was when I realized that I knew, all too well.”

Adam indicated the ring in the wall.  “Did they chain you up to this stupid ring, too?”

“By the wrists, yes,” Blake confirmed.  He indicated some scratches inside the ring.  “That’s from my chain sliding back and forth.  They threaded the chain through the ring, and the manacles kept me in place.  And I had a lot less slack to move around than you do.  Plus it was winter while I was here.  So cold, and incredibly uncomfortable.”  He looked around.  “I’d sit right here, holding Amy, trying to keep her warm.  Amy was just this little waif of a thing, and while I’ve always been shaggy in my lycan form, she was always pretty thin furred.  She used to press herself against me so hard, it was like she was trying to absorb into me and get away from her whole life.”  He buried his face in Adam’s hair for a moment.  “It…  It wasn’t easy, Adam.  I suppose it’s not all that surprising that I made myself forget.”

He looked at the omega.  Adam was once more absently tugging on his collar.  Blake pulled his fingers away from the leather.  “Leave it alone.”

Adam snorted playfully.  “Make me!”

Blake gently caught both the slender hands, sandwiching them between his own.  Adam grew still, looking at his hands in Blake’s.  “Adam, tell me the truth," Blake said suddenly.  "What can I do to get you to stay?  What can I offer to make you not want to run away?”

Adam considered this for some time, chewing on his lower lip.  “I think it’s got to be more than just you,” he said at last.  “If you want me to stay, you have to give the other omegas and betas what they want.”

“And that is?”

“Respect,” Adam said bluntly.  “We’re not things, remember?  Let us make decisions for ourselves.  Let us raise our children, all our children, not just the alphas and omegas.  Maybe offer the betas something in exchange for the work they do, some form of payment?”

“Such as?”

“Well, how about a place of their own?” Adam suggested.  “You said your pack is less than ten thousand weres, and you did a fine job of wiping out mine!  Bitter connotations of that aside, you’re looking at a lot of empty territory.  Let the betas make their own town and set up trade with them, just like you did when the eastern packs first started coming over, but keep them part of the pack so they don’t go feral or nuts like the Dudes.  Then, if you control your birthrate, and utilize the land properly so you don’t overtax it, you’ll see a real difference.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea!”  Blake pulled him close and planted another kiss on Adam’s head.  Adam squirmed in mock protest.  Grinning, Blake wrapped his arms around Adam and gave him a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the neck.

“Dude!” Adam protested, laughing.  “You’re so gross!”

In answer, Blake licked Adam’s neck from the base of his neck to his earlobe, making loud slurping noises.  Adam made gagging sounds, shoving at Blake.  When his laughing face turned towards Blake, Blake moved forward and quickly kissed him.

Adam immediately pulled away, all humor gone from his face.  “Don’t,” he warned.  “I’m not ready for that, Blake, not after what you’ve done to me.  Please.  No more than hugging me and pecks on the cheek for now, ok?  I’m not ready for anything more.”

“Of course.”  Guilt and pain shone in Blake’s blue eyes as he folded his hands into his own lap.  After a moment of awkward silence, he turned to Adam.  “You need to decide what it is you want to ask from Usher.  You know, the side bet?”

“Oh yeah.”  Adam’s brow furled in concentration.  “Well, honestly, I can’t think of anything to ask for that you’re not already giving me.  Unless I can get this damned collar off?”

“Not likely.”

“Don’t lock me up in this cell?”

Blake snorted.

“Don’t tie me up anymore?”

Blake gave him a look.

Adam rolled his eyes.  “Ok, then how about you only tie my hands up front?”

Blake smirked.  “For how long?”

Adam grinned back.  “Forever!”

“I’ll give you a week.”

“You generous fucker you!”

“Oh come on!  I gotta at least pretend to be a sadistic bastard for a bit longer!” Blake protested.  “Trust me, Gwen especially is not ready to accept you, or us.  We gotta take this slow.”

Adam narrowed his eyes.  “Three weeks.”

“A week and a half!”

“Deal!”  Adam playfully shoved at Blake.  “Now get out of here, Big Country.  I’m dead tired and I need my beauty sleep.”

“You couldn’t be any more beautiful if you tried,” Blake said sincerely.

Shining hazel eyes smiled up at him.  “See you in two days.”

Chapter Text

Even on the end of a chain with his hands tied behind his back, the walk was freeing.  Adam found the “honor guard,” as he’d chosen to think of them, of four betas that surrounded him while a fifth held his chain amusing.  The redhaired male holding his chain was the one who had called him an omega slut.  Adam hadn’t said a word about the incident.  But apparently, even these betas, who’d had more reason than anyone to hate him, had started to come around.  They treated Adam more like a guest than a prisoner.  When they’d tied him up and he had offered no resistance at all, they’d almost seemed embarrassed.

Those they were encountering during Adam’s stroll were another story.  Over and over, betas and omegas caught sight of Adam and flashed him the western salute.  One beta had even run out and offered him a drink of cool water, which he’d accepted.  He’d had no idea what else to do. 

As his walk continued and word spread ahead of him, omegas and betas started lining the street to watch him go by.  And bit by bit, a small scattering of alphas joined them.  Everyone in the crowd was staring and pointing, smiling as they watched his progress as if he were a passing king rather than an obvious bound and collared prisoner of war. 

Adam ducked his head, feeling his cheeks flame.  “Uh, guys, is there another route we can take?” he asked his betas quietly.  “Maybe one with less people?”

The betas, to Adam’s relief, led him through a few alleys and emerged into a largely empty street.  Adam breathed a sigh of relief.

That was when he heard it.  “No, leave me alone!  Help!”

Alarmed, Adam looked back and spotted them.  Behind them on the street they’d started to travel, a female alpha had a young, slender male omega against a wall.  The omega appeared to be a teenager, little more than a child, while the alpha was much older, larger, and apparently stronger.  From where he was, Adam could see the telltale bloody marks on the omega’s arms as he held them up, trying to protect his neck and push and kick the alpha away.  “Stop!” Adam called.  “Let me go!”

The betas stared at him in surprise.  “You know we can’t do that!”

“Can’t you see that?” Adam exclaimed, jerking his head towards the scene of the attempted forced claiming.  “I need to help him, now let me go!”

The betas exchanged anxious glances, not one of them moving to release their prisoner.  Adam was just about ready to jerk his chain loose and try to take on the alpha with both hands tied behind his back when a gray blur suddenly slammed into the alpha, knocking her off of her intended victim.

Furious, the thwarted alpha went full lycan and turned towards the much smaller alpha who had dared interrupt her.  But the newcomer was already in motion again, darting in and out, using her small size to duck under her guard, so quick the alpha barely had time to turn towards one attack before another came.  In moments, she was bleeding.  And then the tiny alpha darted behind her, fangs slashing at the back of the offending alpha’s knee.

With a howl of pain, the would-be claimer fell heavily to the ground.  She looked up just in time to see a new arrival draw back a fist and punch her square in the jaw.  She gave an odd yelp, and once again hit the ground.

Adam forgot how to breathe.  “Bring me over there,” he called.

“Adam, that’s…”

“I know exactly who it is!” he snapped irritably.  “Sorry, just, will you please let me go over there?”

The betas were clearly reluctant, but complied.  Adam reached Christina just after she’d reverted back to human form and helped the terrorized omega up.  The wolf who had punched the would-be claimer also reverted and went to assist, revealing himself to be Pharrell’s western omega mate.  Adam blinked in surprise, staring at the other omega’s uncollared neck as Pharrell himself came into view.  “Great job, Patrick!” Pharrell was saying.  “You kept your fist just right and hit from the shoulder, just like I showed you!  Maybe someday, you’ll be able to fight as well as this one here.  How’s it going, Adam?”

“I…  Hi!”  Adam didn’t know what else to say.  He looked again at Patrick’s neck, causing the other omega to blush and look down self-consciously.

“I didn’t see the point of keeping him collared,” Pharrell explained.  “Why wait for him to be accepted by the pack when they don’t even accept me?”

“Dude, I’m sorry about that,” Adam managed.  “Oh!  Hey, are you alright?”

The shaken omega nodded.  “She didn’t bite me anywhere but my arms.  Not for lack of trying, though.  She was biting my arms because I kept covering my neck!  I tried to fight her off, Adam, I really did, but she was so strong, and…”

“Hey, hey, stop that, you got nothing to be ashamed of!” Adam exclaimed.

“He’s right,” Christina added.  “Now, you know this is a bad part of town.  Why would you come here?”

“Because I heard he’d turned down this way, and I wanted to see him,” the omega confessed, nodding towards Adam.  “But she saw me and saw I wasn’t claimed, so…”

“I’m sure there are easier ways to see Adam Levine than to go into this part of the city!” Christina scolded.  “You go straight back the way you came, do you hear me?”

The omega nodded and promptly ran off.

“You know, you probably shouldn’t be down here either, Adam, even with your guards,” Christina said.  “We’ve done a lot to clean things up, but it’s still a cesspool.  Honestly, we should have paid more attention while we were generals, but the war occupied most of our time.”

Adam’s eyebrows shot up.  “You’re cleaning up?  And Pharrell, you’re teaching him to fight?”

“Him, and anyone else who wants to learn,” Pharrell confirmed.  “Any of you betas interested?  Just say the word.”

“I…  You…  I just can’t believe it!” Adam sputtered.  “The last time I saw you, you were telling Blake he needed to choose between me and his pack.  Now you’re teaching omegas and betas to fight?”

Pharrell smiled and slipped his arm around Christina’s shoulders.  “Truth is, I was pretty bitter when I had to pack up and move out here.  But this one changed my mind.”

“I can be very persuasive when I want to be,” Christina declared.  The tiny alpha suddenly became serious.  “I don’t suppose we might potentially see Usher joining us?”

Adam found he couldn’t meet her eyes.  “Usher’s challenged me.”

“Then we won’t be seeing him, will we?” Pharrell said quietly.  “Not in exile, at least.  Not if you win and end that duel the way you did the ones you fought against us.  If you use Gwen’s favorite move, we’ll never see Usher again.  You ok with that, Adam?”

Adam didn’t know what to say.  Finally, it was Christina who broke the silence.  “We should get going, Pharrell.  We have a lot of work to do.”

Pharrell nodded, slipped his arm around Patrick’s waist, and tipped his hat at Adam.  “Take care Adam.”

“Thanks.  You too.  It was good to see you guys.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Christina purred, giving him a flirtatious wink.  She turned and put a little extra wiggle in her walk as she strutted away.  “Still looking good, Adam Levine!” she teased over her shoulder.  “In another time and place?  You and I could have made beautiful music together!”

****

The betas were up to something.  Adam knew it like he knew the sun would rise.  Between the smirking, the winks, and the outright giggling his five guards were doing, it was impossible to miss.  But no matter how many times he asked them, the secretive betas would offer only a sly “You’ll see!”

Once again, Adam was the center of attention wherever he went.  If anything, the crowds were larger today than they were yesterday.  It seemed that word was getting around he was being taken out for walks.  Oddly enough, Adam was seeing the not-so-subtle winks and nods his betas were doing also coming at them from other betas and omegas they were meeting on the street.  It was starting to get on Adam’s nerves.

He’d finally gotten irritated enough he was about to stop moving and demand an explanation when his betas unexpectedly led him to a large house and stopped at the front door.  Ignoring his surprised look, they knocked on the door, were admitted by another beta, and tugged their wary prisoner inside.  “What is this?” Adam wanted to know as he reluctantly entered.  “Where are we?”

To his surprise, his betas quickly untied him.  Adam gratefully rubbed at his wrists and limbered his shoulders, letting the betas bring him further into the house.  Whoever lived there was apparently well off, and recently a parent.  All the little things that indicated the presence of a very young pup were present, including diapers, chew toys, and telltale tiny teeth marks on the legs of the furniture.

The house beta smiled shyly at Adam.  “We untied you, Mr. Levine, but on your honor, I need to ask that you do nothing to harm my master and mistress.”

“Sure, no problem, as long as no one attacks me,” Adam replied.  His eyes were everywhere.  “What is this place?”

“This is the home of General Gwen Stefani.”

“Wait, you said what?”  Too late, Adam realized his betas had locked his chain to the solid metal grate of the fireplace.  “Hey, don’t do that!” he yelled, tugging on it.  “Why are you trapping me?  Why did you bring me here?”

“To talk to me.  Thank you, betas.  I’d appreciate it if we could have some privacy now.”

The voice was male, but Adam froze while the betas excused themselves.  Adam sniffed the air, not able to reconcile what he was scenting with what he was seeing.  But his senses didn’t lie.  Adam couldn’t stop staring as the tall omega carefully stepped into the living room where Adam waited, looming over the western omega, a sleepy lycan pup in his arms and a burping rag over one shoulder.  The omega paused, glanced down, and then fearlessly met Adam’s stare.  “You didn’t really think you were the first omega to ever cause a stir in this city, did you, Mr. Levine?”

“What?”  Adam blinked, and realized he’d been staring.  He grimaced and blushed.  “Oh man, sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.  It’s just that…”

“I’m aware.  And I assure you, I’m quite used to it.  Stare all you wish, I don’t mind.  Won’t you take a seat?”

Adam grimaced, embarrassed.  He moved to the indicated chair, but politely waited until the young mother settled himself and his pup on the sofa before sitting himself.  It was hard not to stare.  Adam forced himself to look the other omega in the eyes.  “I take it you’re Gwen’s mate?” he asked.

“Yes.  I’m Ben Stefani.  And it’s ok, you can look.  It often helps, to get a good stare in, and then move on.  Like I said, I’m used to it.  I wasn’t sure if you knew or not, but obviously you didn’t.”

“No, no I did not.”  Adam reluctantly gave himself permission to stare, his eyes moving up and down the other omega, taking it all in.  He shook his head.  “You’re right.  I feel like an ass, but now that the initial shock has passed and I’ve had a good look, I don’t feel like I can’t stop staring at you.”

Ben gave him a friendly smile.  “I told you, I don’t mind.  I understand.”

Adam looked down.  “I understand a lot about your alpha now, though.”

“Mmm.”  Ben tenderly stroked the muzzle of the sleepy lycan puppy in his arms.  “I was told that Gwen searched a very long time for someone of my… characteristics,” he explained.  “She bought me from my family, from my pack in the southwest, at what I’ve heard is a pretty significant expense, and claimed me almost as soon as I arrived.  I was nervous about it, but pretty flattered as I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Well, yes and no,” Adam grumbled.  “I know my dad got some offers for me, alphas who wanted to buy me when I first presented, but I refuse to be bought and sold like a piece of property!”  His shoulders slumped.  “Ok, that was a dick thing to say to you, considering what you just told me.”

Ben laughed, his honeyed voice rich and disturbingly familiar.  “Oh, please!  Gwen claimed me three years ago, and I’ve heard pretty much every damned thing people can think of to say, about me and about her.  No one said it in her hearing, though I still hear whispers once in a while when she’s not around.  It’s why I don’t go out much.”  He smiled.  “Having the baby just gives me another excuse.”

“Don’t lock yourself away,” Adam said.  “It’s not healthy.  You have nothing to hide, and neither does she.”

Ben’s smile grew soft.  “Not everyone thinks that way.”

“I don’t give a shit.”  Adam’s chin was set.  “What Gwen does is her own business, and you are what you are and if she went out of her way and paid a high price to get you, she obviously knew exactly what she wanted!  I mean, sure, it’s unusual for an alpha to...”  Adam promptly shut his mouth.

“You can say it,” Ben encouraged.  “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”

Adam shook his head.  “No.  It’s not my business.  But I don’t see anything wrong with it, and fuck anyone who does.  In fact, if any omega has anything to say, you tell me and I’ll shut their mouth for them!”  Adam surprised himself with his sudden feeling of protectiveness towards this omega he’d only just met.  But he’d meant every word.

Ben frowned and chuckled at the same time.  “I appreciate the sentiment, especially coming from you, Mr. Levine.  But please do mind your language around the baby?  I’d prefer his first word was not that one.”

“Please just call me Adam.” 

“Then I’m Ben, and this is little Dylan.”

Adam smiled at the tiny lycan.  “He is a beautiful baby.”

“And the only one I was permitted to keep.”  Ben’s face grew sad.  “I want my children back, Adam.  It’s one of the things I asked to speak with you about.  My babies, my betas, were taken from me and I barely thought about it until you started opening everyone’s eyes.  Now they’re all I think about.”  He looked sadly at his child.  “As you can imagine, my bond isn’t a loving one, but it’s not a bad one either.  I love my alpha completely.  She isn’t capable of loving me in return.  I’ve accepted that, and the reason why.  It hurt, when I first realized.  But I understand.  Gwen gives me everything that she can, is capable of being a passionate lover, and is a good father for Dylan.  She loves him to distraction, Adam.  I only wish she could do the same for our other children.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably and tugged on his collar.  “I’m not really in a position to help anyone, Ben.  They won’t even let me out of the dungeon without tying me up first, and…”  He tugged on his chain, making it rattle against the grate.  “I’m not sure what I can do to help.”

“You’ve already helped.  Thanks to you, I understand what it is I’ve lost, and am doing what I can to make it right.”  Ben was smiling at him again, and the effect was dizzying.  “But you’re wrong about not being in a position to help.  We talk to each other, Adam, the omegas, and in my isolation, I’ve become the spider at the center of the web, so far as gossip goes in this town.  Now that the betas have joined in, the web spreads even further.  You’re still calling yourself Adam Levine, rather than Adam Shelton, so it’s not perfect, your bond.  But we know that things are better between you and the Pack Alpha.  You have his ear.  I know you don’t know me, and that seeing me for the first time with no warning was quite the shock.  But I’m a mother, and that makes one bold.  Please speak to the Pack Alpha and ask him where my babies are?”

“I’d be happy to,” Adam declared.  “I should see him tonight, and I’ll ask him then.”

The grateful smile Ben gave him made Adam’s heart ache for more reason than one.  Ben excused himself to put his now sleeping infant to bed. 

Adam took a moment to compose himself.  Suddenly, so much about Gwen made sense, especially the way she was always so fiercely loyal to Blake.  Adam felt he could relate to her more, now that he understood that, despite everything, she, too, refused to simply bend to tradition.  The omega she’d chosen spoke volumes, told of something that wasn’t taboo, but was certainly unconventional.  Adam imagined that, had Blake not taken her as a general, she would have become an outcast.  The fact that Gwen was his second in command said a lot about Blake, as well.

Ben returned quickly.  “Sorry.  Sometimes babies are best when they’re asleep,” he commented, sitting back down.  Then Ben crossed one long lean leg over the other and Adam was staring again.  Ben laughed.  “Distracting, isn’t it?”

Adam grimaced.  “Very!  I’m really sorry, man, I swear I don’t mean to stare.  It’s just…”

“I know.  Just so you’re aware, staring at another omega isn’t a crime.  It’s perfectly alright to admit I’m better looking than you are.”

It was Adam’s turn to laugh.  He couldn’t help but like this friendly omega.  “Sorry, dude, we’ll agree to disagree on that one!  Besides, your hair is too long.”

“Don’t be jealous of my lovely locks.”  Ben preened, twirling one of his dark curls around a finger and giving Adam a flirting look.  “Besides, I’ll just take it as a compliment.”  Ben’s smile faded.  “It’s almost nice, to be looked at.  Gwen hasn’t looked at me in a long time, not really, not at me.  Like I said, she can be a passionate lover, so I have no complaints in that area.  But in the peak of our passion, well, it’s not my name she calls out.”  His blue eyes became wistful.  “I know she’ll never love me, Adam, but I do love her.  With all my heart.”

Adam winced.  The long legs and tall frame weren’t tightly muscled from years of fighting, but Ben was in good shape, with no trace of whatever weight his pregnancy added.  His blue eyes were gentle and full of kindness, his face open and with his smile seeming to be always ready to break free.  It was a face that had none of the tempered steel of the Pack Alpha.  But Ben’s face was, without a doubt, identical to Blake’s.  His build, his height, even that honeyed voice was all the same, although Ben’s accent differed.  Ben also sported a head full of long dark curls he wore pulled back into a low ponytail.  But Adam had no doubt that, given time, the omega’s hair would turn gunmetal gray.  Looking at Ben Stefani meant seeing what Blake Shelton would have looked like had he been born an omega, and told the entire world that the alpha Gwen Stefani was in love with another alpha.

An uncomfortable silence grew.  Ben seemed to be staring off into space.  Adam cleared his throat.  “You said that your pups were one thing you wanted to speak to me about.  There was more?”

“I wanted to talk to you about your duel with Usher.”  Ben met Adam’s eyes.  “I haven’t seen your fights, Adam, but I’ve heard so much about them it’s like I was there.  I understand that your custom so far has been to finish your fight with each general using the signature move of the next.  It’s something of a challenge to the next in line?”

Adam nodded, already guessing where this was going.  “That’s right.  And I know what Gwen’s signature move is.”

“Will you use it?  Do you intend to kill Usher?”

Adam blinked.  “Your bluntness is kind of refreshing, Ben.”

He waved a hand.  “I don’t get out much, so my people skills are lacking.  Do you?”

“Honestly?  I don’t know.”  Adam folded and unfolded his hands to give himself something to look at.  Ben’s cool gaze was unnerving for many reasons.

“Usher isn’t a bad man, Adam.  None of them are really bad people.  They did what they had to do in desperate times, and it made them hard.”

“I know.  But it’s hard to forget, when it was my pack that suffered for it.  In their position, I know I would have done the same, but…”  He shook his head.  “Honestly, Ben, I’ve already fought and killed for the right to be who I really am inside.  Why should Usher be different, just because he’s a general?”

“And one of Blake’s closest friends.”  Ben reached out and covered Adam’s hands with his own.  Adam blinked, seeing the single hand cover both of his, and looked up.  “Don’t kill him, Adam,” Ben pleaded.  “Don’t tear his throat out to finish this fight, just to challenge Gwen.  You’re going to have a fight on your hands against Usher.  He’s a powerful wolf, and a skilled fighter, just as you are.  I think, this time, you are facing odds that are even or perhaps stacked in his favor.  But he won’t kill you if you win.  I beg you.  Don’t kill him if you beat him.”

“I…”  Adam swallowed hard.  “I can’t promise that, Ben.  If I don’t go through with this all the way, the alphas will say I don’t have what it takes to really be a warrior.  It could undo everything I’ve worked for!”

“But if you kill Usher, it could destroy Blake,” Ben argued.  “Blake is the leader that everyone looks up to.  But the truth is, it’s the four generals who really run this pack.  Blake is strong, brave, and his heart’s in the right place.  He’s very smart, but he isn’t as smart as Pharrell or as bold as Christina.  He doesn’t have Usher’s gift at persuading people, nor does he have Gwen’s talent for organization.  You see, every time you’ve taken away one of Blake’s generals, you’ve also taken away one of his closest friends, his most trusted advisors, and one of the foundations he relies on to help him run this pack.  He can’t run it alone, Adam.  And only his generals know how to bring him back from the Beast.”

“He’s close to them.  I know.  And I saw how upset he was, after I beat Christina and Pharrell.  But the thing is, both of them changed after the duel.  I saw them yesterday, and I couldn’t believe it!  They’re actually working hard to do some good for the pack.”

“They always have,” Ben urged.  “They propped Blake up and rallied behind the White Wolf to win the war, but it was the generals, working tirelessly behind the scenes, who really saw us through the war effort.  I know.  I was there.  The four of them are completely loyal to Blake and to this pack.  Did you know that, back when they were deciding rank among themselves, Usher actually defeated Gwen in a duel?”

“No!” Adam exclaimed.  “Why isn’t he second in command, then?”

“Several reasons.  First, Usher isn’t your typical alpha.  He’s called the Player for many reasons, and one is that he prefers to work behind the scenes, moving people like chess pieces.  I would not advise playing chess with him, by the way.  Not even Pharrell can beat him.”  He smiled.  “The other reasons are less obvious.  No one can read people the way Usher can, Adam, and he can turn that ability on himself.  He looked at himself in comparison to Gwen, and he realized that she was the far better choice for second in command.  Usher relinquished the role he’d won the right to for the good of the pack.”

“I wish he’d see that it’s to the good of the pack to stop treating us like property!” Adam grumbled.

“Then give him the chance to change.”  Ben rubbed his eyes with his fisted hands, suddenly appearing weary.  “Adam, you’re trying to get the alphas to see you as they would an alpha.  And for that to happen, yes, you need to kill Usher, to use Gwen’s signature move and rip out his throat.  It is the only way to assert your dominance, and it’s decidedly alpha.  But please remember one thing.  You are not an alpha, Adam.”

Adam didn’t respond, and Ben sighed.  “I know I’m hardly the person to give you advice on a duel.  I was ready to defend my home and my pup when the ferals attacked, but that’s just instinct.  I couldn’t do what you do because I just don’t have the heart for it.  But Adam, are you certain that you have the heart for it?  Can you really take it that far?  Are you willing to give up another piece of your soul and kill Usher in cold blood, just to prove a point?”

There was the sound of a door opening and Ben sat back, looking suddenly alarmed.  “You should go.  Gwen will be coming home soon, and it wouldn’t do for her to see you…”

Ben’s voice trailed off into a startled gasp as the platinum blonde general came into the room.  She stared cooly at Adam.  “What is this, Ben?” she asked softly.  “Why have you brought this omega into our home?”  She whirled, glaring at Ben.  “Are you planning on leaving me?”

“What?  No!”  Ben immediately jumped up and went to his mate, wrapping his long arms around her.  “Gwen, I’m yours, always and forever yours!  I would never leave you!  I swear it!”

Gwen pulled free, glaring at Ben, and Adam braced.  He didn’t care what the consequences were.  If Gwen struck Ben, Adam had every intention of starting a fight.  But Gwen only shook her head, reached out, and gently cupped Ben’s face.  “Benny, you shouldn’t let yourself get involved with him,” she scolded.  “And you never should have brought him to our home!  Where’s the baby?”

“Upstairs.  I just put him down.”

“Then go upstairs with the baby,” she ordered.  “I’ll finish this.”

Ben glanced back at Adam, and then down at his much shorter mate.  “Gwen, I asked him here because…”

“Go, Ben!”  Gwen pointed at the stairs.  Ben sighed, glanced once more at Adam, and started up them.

Adam warily got to his feet.  “Ben seems like a good man,” he said, looking after the other omega.

“You stay the fuck away from my mate, Levine!”

Adam sighed.  “Look, Gwen, I didn’t even know I was coming here!  I…”

Gwen moved so fast Adam had no time to react.  In an instant, he was pinned down on the sofa, both wrists trapped above his head by one of her hands while her other held his throat.  Adam gagged.  He’d known Gwen was the strongest of Blake’s generals, but he hadn’t been prepared for just how strong she really was.  “I will say this exactly once,” Gwen was growling in a low voice, leaning dangerously over Adam.  “If you ever come near my mate again, I will break you in half!  Am I in any way unclear?”

“Crystal!” Adam managed.  “Fucking let go of me, Gwen!  Out of respect for your mate and your child, I’m not going to start a fight here.  But I’m not letting you hurt me.  Let me up!”

Gwen bared her fangs, and for a moment, Adam thought she was going to attack.  But then she snarled and let him go.

Adam sat up, rubbing at his throat, and tried to control his temper.  “It’s not my fault, you know,” he called.  “I admire you for having the courage you do, claiming Ben and carrying on when it’s got to hurt you.  But you have no right to take anything out on me, especially not when you’re the one who gave me to Blake in the first place!  I didn’t ask for him to claim me, and I certainly didn’t ask him to choose me over you.”

“You would do well to shut the fuck up, Levine,” Gwen warned. 

“No, we’re talking about this, because I’m literally a captive audience.”  Adam tugged meaningfully on his chain.  “Listen.  I cannot imagine how much it must have hurt you, watching him claim me right in front of you.  And I get now why you were so eager to tear my throat out when I attacked him.  But you’ve had an unreasonable hatred of me ever since, Gwen.  Do you understand I have no desire to come between you and Blake?  What Blake and I have between us has nothing whatsoever to do with you.  Why can’t you put your jealousy aside and think about what’s right for your pack, for your family?  All Ben wants is a chance to raise his children!”

“He will.  He will raise all of our alpha and omega children,” Gwen declared.  “Let me guess.  He wants you to talk to Blake and help him find the betas, right?”

Adam nodded.

“Do whatever you want to do.  I’ll not raise beta babies in this house.  And I’ll tell you something else, Levine.  Coming into my home and giving my mate ideas were the biggest and last mistakes you will ever make concerning me.  If you manage to beat Usher, which I highly doubt?  I will challenge you, no side bets, no conditions!  But our fight will be to the death.”

Adam eyed the general known as the Destroyer.  “Yeah, I kind of figured it would turn out like that.  Do you really want to do that to Blake?  No matter who wins, he loses!”

“Maybe you should have thought of that sooner, Levine?  Roll over like a good little omega and prop Blake up instead of confusing him and tearing apart his pack, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll survive what’s coming.”

Adam didn’t like what he could see in her eyes.  “Gwen, what’s going on?”

“None of your business.  Blake gave you two days, right?  When are they up?”

Adam blinked, and then frowned in thought.  “Actually, now.  Why?”

“Because he needs to have a long talk with you about your place in this pack, that’s why!” Gwen snapped.  “But you’ll find that out tonight.  Where are those betas?”

Adam frowned.  “What do you mean, I’ll find that out tonight?”

But Gwen wasn’t listening.  She called the betas to collect him, and then headed up the stairs.

Chapter Text

“Don’t worry about it, Adam,” Blake repeated yet again.

“Dude, stop being such a dumbass.  The more you tell me not to worry, the more I worry!  Now spill it, Big Country.  What’s going on?”

Blake grimaced.  “It’s the ferals,” he explained.  “They’re gone.”

Adam frowned.  “What do you mean, gone?  Wait, isn’t that a good thing?”

“It might be, if we had any idea where they were!”  Blake pulled Adam closer, as though he needed the comfort holding his omega could bring.  “We’ve been spying on them since they attacked, trying to figure out what’s changed with them, and if they might come back for more.  And honestly, the reports were all normal.  But now the dens and the camps they made for themselves are all empty!  If they had one of their little wars, we would have understood that.  Ferals are so wild they’ll attack anything including each other, and every so often, they’ll have this huge group melee and do us the favor of greatly reducing their numbers.  But something like that would have left bodies.  Same to be said if they were attacked from an outside source.  They’re just gone.”

“Ok, that is creepy and weird.”

“Yeah, because we tracked them for a while before we lost them in the mountains, and guess what?  Every single feral seems to be moving in the exact same direction.  West.”

Adam stiffened.  “They’re headed west?  Towards my home?”

“Straight towards it, due west,” Blake confirmed.  “I sent runners ahead to try to warn my pack.  If we’re lucky, they’ll get through.  But that means the city is worse off than we knew.  The ferals took or destroyed all the reserves of food, and now that they’re headed west, we won’t be able to ship in more from the new territory.  So here we are again, facing starvation, just as if we never won the war!”

“Oh.”  Adam didn’t know what to say.

“Aw, hell.”  Blake hugged him tightly.  “See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you.  No point in you worrying over something like this.  You have a duel tomorrow, and you need to get a good night’s sleep before that.  Don’t let pack problems or Gwen get in the way of that, ok?  And I’m happy to find out where Ben’s betas are, although he’s going to have a time convincing Gwen to let him raise them.  Anyway, just focus on your duel.”

“But Blake,” Adam said slowly, “what about Usher?  If I win…  Don’t you have anything to say to me about it?”

Blake went silent for so long that Adam started to worry.  He turned slightly in Blake’s lap, looking up at his mate.  Blake’s eyes stared ahead, lost in his thoughts.  Adam frowned and elbowed him.  “Blake!  We need to talk about this.”

“Adam,” Blake said quietly, “you are talking to a guy who was forced to kill every alpha in his family.  I am no stranger to death matches, ok?  The truth is, I don’t know what to think.  I know that if he beats you and you’re forced to submit, that will break you.  There is not a doubt in my mind that one way or another, you’ll eventually die under those conditions.  But if you win, you’ll have to kill Usher, or you’ll lose everything you’ve fought for.  No alpha could refuse to use Gwen’s technique, not after how you’ve finished the last two fights.”

“I’m not an alpha.”

“What does that even mean, Adam?” Blake complained.  “What does an omega faced with a death match do, exactly?  You are kind of in uncharted waters here, Adam.”

“Just tell me what will happen, with you and the pack, if you lose Usher too?”

“In a nutshell?  The pack will probably fall apart,” Blake declared.  “But you didn’t need me to tell you that, Adam.  That was your plan from the beginning!  Take away my generals one by one until my pack loses all faith in me, there’s no one to take my place, and my pack falls apart.  Your words, Levine!”

Adam felt stung.  He squirmed free of Blake’s arms and stomped off into a corner.  “You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah, well, you made me that way,” Blake grumbled.  “You’re the one who’s been intentionally tearing my pack apart!”

“Oh bullshit!” Adam whirled on Blake.  “Don’t put this shit on me, Shelton!  You alphas have been treating omegas like property for too long, and the betas even worse!  One of us finally stands up for himself, and suddenly it’s tearing the pack apart?  That’s complete and utter horseshit!  This pack is fracturing along stress lines that have been there for generations because it’s been alphas against omegas and everyone against betas for as long as any of us has been alive.  This pack was always divided!  You just chose to ignore it!”

“Dammit Adam, this isn’t the time for this!” Blake roared.  “I need you to be with me!”

“I am with you!” Adam yelled back.  He tugged on his collar.  “I don’t have a choice!  You won’t let me go!”

“Adam, I swear, I will walk out of here and straight off a cliff if we fight over your collar again.  I am just about on the edge of a breakdown, and I need you, as my mate, to help me!”

Adam sighed.  “What do you want?”

“I want you to publicly be my mate, and support me.  That’s your place in this pack, Adam.  My support.  You don’t have to submit to me, just support me!”  Blake jerked a thumb towards the door.  “Tell your loyal fans out there to back off until we get through the current crisis.  I need you to stand with me as my mate, show everyone we stand as one, and tell them to stop raising so much hell, ok?  We cannot deal with the ferals and the troubles they’ve caused and have a social revolution at the same time, so stop telling them to revolt!”

“I’m not telling them anything!  They’re fighting because they want to!”

Blake threw up his hands.  “Forget it.  I’m not talking about this with you anymore.”  He turned and stomped out.

“Hey Shelton!” Adam yelled after him.  “You forgot to lock the door, dumbass!”

“No I didn’t!”

Adam stared at the open door to his cell, not understanding.  And then Blake returned, with two odd shaped objects in his hands.  Adam stared.  “What…?”

“You obviously need something else to do with your mouth besides bitch,” Blake retorted.  “So here.”

Adam quickly came over and accepted the case.  He opened it to find a six string guitar.  Blake had already removed his own guitar and had placed a set of tuning pipes in his mouth, gently blowing the notes and tuning the guitar.  Adam promptly did the same.  When both guitars were tuned, Adam slipped the strap over his shoulder, annoyed by the chain that got in the way.  After a bit of adjusting, he had the guitar where he liked.  Almost reverently, he strummed a few chords.  “It’s amazing, how it comes back,” he said quietly.  “My fingers are going to be sore, but they still remember how to chord.”  He moved into a complicated series of notes, fingers dancing over the frets, his face beaming with pleasure.

“Damn,” Blake commented.  “You’re good at that!  Now let’s hear you sing.”

Adam grimaced.  “I sound like a girl.”

“Sing, or no guitar!  I’ll take it away and you’ll never see it again.”

Adam gaped at him.  “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me!”

“Asshole!”

“Dickhead!”

Adam launched into some angry strumming, letting Blake know without words exactly what he thought of the alpha.  Blake only smiled.  “Lyrics.  Sing!”

Adam immediately stopped.  He sighed, and began to carefully play the guitar and sing.

How I wish I could surrender my soul
Shed the clothes that become my skin
See the liar that burns within my needing
How I wish I'd chosen darkness from cold
How I wish I had screamed out loud
Instead I've found no meaning

I guess it's time I run far, far away, find comfort in pain
All pleasure's the same, it just keeps me from trouble
Hides my true shape, like Dorian Gray
I've heard what they say, but I'm not here for trouble
It's more than just words, it's just tears and rain

“Damn,” Blake breathed.  “Adam, you gotta give yourself more credit!  That was beautiful, and the way you sang it?”

“I’ve had cause to understand it a bit more recently,” Adam said.  He was ducking his head, but obviously pleased, basking in Blake’s praise.  “Ok, your turn!”

“Um, ok, well…”  Blake rolled his lips into his mouth, thinking.  And then he began to play, his fingers drawing out a walking melody line as he sang.

When your day is long
And the night, the night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life
Well hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone
If you feel like letting go
If you think you've had too much
Of this life
Well, hang on

'Cause everybody hurts  

“I knew you’d have a great singing voice,” Adam said.  His eyes were shining as he watched Blake.  “I was right.”

Blake squirmed.  “I’m not nearly as good as you are.”

“Like hell!  I may have more range and a clearer tone, but your voice is richer, and a lot stronger than mine.”

“Well, you do sound kind of like a girl.”

Adam laughed, and Blake happily joined in.  And then Adam began to play again.  He cocked an eyebrow at Blake, who nodded and began to play as well, joining in the song and starting to sing, his rich tone filling the cell.

I don't want to hear about it anymore
It's a shame I've got to live without you anymore
There's a fire in my heart
A pounding in my brain, it's driving me crazy

And then Adam’s high sweet tenor joined in, meshing perfectly with Blake’s voice.

We don't need to talk about it anymore
Yesterday's just a memory, can we close the door
I just made one mistake
I didn't know what to say when you called me baby

Their voices wove around each other, swapping harmony and melody, Blake’s voice solid while Adam’s soared.

Don't say goodbye
Say you're gonna stay forever
Oh, whoa, all the way

Can you take me high enough
to fly me over yesterday
Can you take me high enough
It's never over and yesterday's just a memory

The world faded away, becoming only the two voices and the guitars.  The music swelled like a living thing, drawn out of them as if it were part of their very souls, pulled up to mix and create something that, for one moment, transcended them both.

And then it was over, and it was only the two of them, eyes locked to each other. 

“Come to bed with me,” Blake said suddenly.  “I won’t ask you for anything.  Just stay with me tonight?”

For a moment, Adam almost said yes.  The idea of sleeping wrapped safe in Blake’s arms made his heart ache with longing.  But then he thought of Blake’s chambers, his bed…  “I can’t,” he whispered, shuddering.  “After what happened to me there?  I’m not ready, Blake.  I’m sorry.”

Blake’s eyes blazed with pain.  “Then let me stay here with you.”

Adam’s eyes grew wide.  And then they softened.  He nodded.  “It’s uncomfortable as hell, but you’d be welcome.”

“I’m the Pack Alpha.  I’ve got pull.  I’m fairly certain I can get us some more furs to sleep on.”

Adam laughed, reluctantly replacing his guitar in its case.  “Thank you,” he said quietly.  “For everything.  And Blake?  For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.  I know this is hard, with your pack.  And tomorrow…?”

“Worry about tomorrow when it gets here.”  He put his own guitar away, drew Adam close and held him tight.  “Thank you for letting me stay.  It means more to me than you know.”

“Just don’t snore so loud you keep me up.”

Chapter Text

Adam fidgeted impatiently while Blake untied him and removed the chain from his collar.  The Pack Alpha was frowning, but he hadn’t said a word since breakfast.  His shoulders had slumped while he’d led Adam out to the square.  It made Adam’s heart ache.  Blake was suffering, clearly upset.  No matter who won this duel, Adam knew, Blake would be the loser.  And yet he’d rebuffed Adam every time the omega had tried to get him to talk about it.

Adam still hadn’t decided what he was going to do.  Usher, he knew, would be a match for him, both physically and in terms of skill.  If the general beat him, nothing would matter.  But if Adam won, what would he do then?  Would he act as an alpha would, and further secure his status in the eyes of Blake’s pack?  Or was there another option?

Then he heard Blake take a sharp intake of breath.  Following the gaze and pointing fingers of the crowd, Adam saw Gwen.  She came walking in wearing a bright red dress, her blonde hair pulled back.  She looked lovely.  But it was the figure at her side that was drawing all the attention.  Ben walked next to her, shyly ducking his head and smiling, his hand held in Gwen’s.

Blake couldn’t tear his eyes away.  It was the first time he’d seen Gwen’s mate out in public since she’d bought him from his pack a few years ago and claimed him publicly in this very square.  Back then, Blake hadn’t gotten a chance to speak with the omega before Gwen whisked him off.  He’d seen Ben several times since then, especially since the birth of their child.  But speaking with Ben had always been awkward.  Ben hadn’t known the truth of his unusual situation when he’d been delivered to Gwen.  But just before Gwen had bitten him, Ben’s eyes had fallen on Blake and grown wide with understanding.  It had hurt Blake then, and it still did to remember how the light had dulled in Ben’s blue eyes when he’d realized Blake’s unique role in his new alpha’s life.

Adam, it seemed, was glad to see him.  “Hey, Ben!” he called happily.  “You came!  I didn’t think you would!”

Ben’s smile grew wider.  “I didn’t, either, but I figured you were right.  It isn’t healthy for me to always be shut away.”

“You could have come out any time,” Gwen assured, pulling his head down to kiss his cheek.  Ben smiled again, his familiar dimples evident.

“About that thing we talked about?” Adam said casually, avoiding Gwen’s look.  “Being worked on.”

And now Ben beamed.

Holy shit, that guy’s tall, Blake thought as Ben came closer.  I don’t think I’ve ever stood next to him before.  Then he realized the obvious.  He’s the same height as you, moron!  Looking at Ben always produced a curious feeling of disconnect.  In many ways, it was like looking in a mirror and seeing his younger, softer self.  Before he’d been forced to kill his family.  Before the war.  Before he’d become the White Wolf.  Ben’s eyes betrayed the gentle soul and good nature that Blake once had, the Blake Shelton that Gwen confessed she’d fallen in love with.  But looking at Ben made Blake hate himself a little more than usual.  In their otherwise identical blue eyes was the contrast between the mother and the berserker.  Blake never knew how to react to Ben.  He settled for nodding at the omega, which Ben acknowledged with a nod of his own.

Gwen, apparently, had no concerns about the etiquette of the situation.  She boldly took her usual place next to the Pack Alpha.  Blake smiled gently at her, and she smiled in return, still gripping Ben’s hand in her right.  Then she looked down, and Blake felt the tentative probing of her fingers.  That surprised him.  Even though her purchase of Ben had made no secret of Gwen’s true affection for Blake, she’d never publicly done anything to indicate she’d wanted anything more from the Pack Alpha than to serve as his general and friend.  But now, here she was, trying to hold Blake’s hand in front of the entire pack, even as she held tight to the hand of her mate.  Blake glanced over her head at Ben.  Ben’s face bore a sad, wistful smile, but offered no guidance.  Blake didn’t resist, letting Gwen slip her small hand into his.  He curled his fingers around her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  His reward was the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen, rare and content.  Gwen looked like there was nowhere else she’d rather be than standing right there, holding hands with the Pack Alpha she loved and the identical omega she’d bonded with.

Blake’s attention was distracted from his second in command and his doppelganger by Adam suddenly moving purposefully into the square.  Usher untangled himself from his three omegas and stepped out to meet him, but Adam raised a hand to ward him off.  Instead, Adam approached a group of western omegas and began speaking to them in a low voice.

“What’s he doing?” Gwen wanted to know.

Blake shrugged, but Ben spoke up.  “I believe he’s threatening some level of violence to those omegas.  I don’t think he liked the way they were whispering and staring at me.  His face was pretty red when he started over there, and he did say he’d deal with anyone who said anything about me if I came out.”

“Oh!” Blake realized.  “They probably didn’t know that…”  He paused, glancing at Gwen and feeling awkward.

“Now they know what a sexual deviant I am,” Gwen declared.  She defiantly tossed her head.  “An alpha who has unnatural desires towards another alpha!”

“So what?” Blake growled.  “You and I worked that out between us long ago, Gwen, and the only people who have any business complaining about it are our mates.  I refuse to be awkward with my best friend, and our mates aren’t complaining, so I hope Adam busts the muzzle of anyone who says one damned word!”

Blake glanced at Ben, but the omega wasn’t listening.  He was smiling broadly, eyes shining as he watched Adam.  The group of omegas Adam had just threatened had gone pale.  They appeared to be falling over themselves to appease Adam, who had his mad face on.  Several waved tentatively to Ben, who chuckled and waved back.  Blake was pleased.  Ben was a sweet, gentle man who didn’t deserve vicious gossip or stares.  He was glad Adam had chosen to stand up for him.  Maybe now, Ben would venture out more?  He and his pup could both benefit from fresh air.

But now Adam was moving into the center of the square, ready to face off with Usher.  Usher had been watching Adam closely during his interaction with the omegas with one eyebrow raised, an odd expression on his face.  His dark eyes moved to Ben, and then they returned to Adam.  Usher appeared deep in thought.  But he quickly moved into the square once Adam indicated he was ready.  The Player moved with a natural, unconscious grace, strolling out to meet his opponent as though he hadn’t a care in the world.  He cooly studied Adam while the omega flashed the western salute, not reacting to the cheers this produced, or the fact that nearly every omega and beta, and even a few alphas, returned the salute.  Whatever Usher was thinking, it was a mystery.

The Player.  An expert in martial arts, considered among the best by every warrior I’ve ever trained with.  But he’s cocky.  He toys with his opponents, stepping back when he could finish a fight quickly, just to prolong the battle.  I thought I could provoke him and get him to make mistakes.  But if Usher really did beat Gwen, he may be better than I thought, and the fact that he went against his alpha nature and turned down the role of first general means he’s got more depth than I realized.  The Player is skilled, cocky, cunning, and unpredictable.  To beat him, I’ll have to be the same.  

Adam raised his hands and prepared for Usher’s first attack.  But Usher simply folded his arms across his chest and slowly walked around Adam, seeming to study the omega.  “Adam Levine,” Usher called.  “An omega with the fighting prowess of an alpha.  You consider yourself the last western warrior and value your honor even over your own freedom, perhaps over your life.  You use a lot of different styles and techniques when you fight, not sticking to any particular method of attack, although you do prefer fast attacks that take advantage of your speed and reflexes.  You must have had a lot of different trainers.”

“Yeah, so?” Adam called, unnerved.  “Are we gonna do this, or what?”

“You’re impatient.  That’s your biggest weakness, Adam,” Usher declared.  “You’re brash, impulsive, and quick to lose your temper and give in to your anger.  I was surprised to hear you do yoga.  That means you do know how to center yourself, but you don’t stay centered.  You fight with your heart.  That’s a credit to you.  But your emotions are both your strength, and your weakness.”

It was like Usher was reciting what he’d learned from an intelligence file, just as Adam had done mentally with him.  Adam shook his head.  “Dude, what are you doing?  If you’re going to fight me, then throw a punch already!”

Usher shrugged.  Then stars exploded in Adam’s face.  When they cleared, he was looking up at the sky.  He hadn’t even seen Usher move.

Usher stood over Adam and offered his hand.  Adam eyed it like a snake.  He reluctantly took it and let Usher help him up.  Then he swiped at his face, noting the blood.  He was bleeding already, he hadn’t even followed the blow that caused it, and neither one of them had even gone lycan yet.  This did not bode well.  The first twinge of fear traced up his spine as Adam, for the first time, considered the fact that Usher might be more than a match for him.

Usher stepped back and went lycan.  He gestured Adam forward and raised his guard.  Adam went full lycan as well and hesitated, eyeing Usher warily.  Then he moved to attack.  He punched and kicked expertly, following Usher as the Player retreated around the circle, skillfully blocking the blows.  Then in a flash, Usher suddenly went on the offensive.  Adam found himself retreating fast, retracing the steps he’d just taken, until he was back where he’d started.  And then Usher took a step back and, to Adam’s complete amazement, began to dance.

Adam blinked, watching as Usher undulated, swaying his hips and smirking at Adam.  Then, incredibly, Usher stopped and blew him a kiss, winking suggestively at Adam.  Adam felt his face flush in anger.  The Player was mocking him!  Furious, Adam stepped up and renewed his attack.

Once again, Usher retreated defensively.  But the smug, infuriating smirk remained.  Usher spun like a dancer, moving past Adam on the right.  As he loped past, one hand shot out, producing a sharp crack.

Usher had just slapped Adam’s ass.

For a moment, Adam saw red.  He had to check himself quickly to keep from diving on Usher.  That’s what he wants, for me to lose control.  It’s just what I did to Christina.  Bastard is testing me, using my own tricks against me!  But two can play that game!

Adam snarled and lunged towards Usher, pretending he’d lost control.  Usher was ready.  As he moved to counter, Adam dropped into a spinning kick.  It worked.  Adam watched with satisfaction as the smug grin turned into an O of surprise as Usher got his legs swept out from under him.  He landed on his back with a grunt.  “Nice move.”

“Thanks.”  Adam offered his hand to the general.  Fair was fair, after all.

Usher waved him off.  He sat up.  Then he arced his body back, going into a reverse handspring.  His legs shot out, scissoring Adam between them.  Adam’s legs were swept out from under him by Usher’s left leg, while the right slammed hard into his waist.  Usher had just turned the tables using his signature move.

Adam went down hard, getting the wind knocked out of him.  Already, Usher was back up, offering a hand to Adam, who angrily brushed it aside.  Adam got up and backed away, doubled over and waiting for a follow-up attack.  But amazingly, Usher didn’t press his advantage.  If he had, Adam knew, he would have quite possibly beaten him.

Adam figured out the basics of breathing again and moved back towards Usher.  The crowd was unnaturally silent, watching the two skilled warriors as they circled each other in the square.  Once more, Adam fought back a rising wave of fear.  He’s good, better than any of my teachers!  I’m not sure if I have what it takes to beat him.  Brushing the thought aside, he went into a series of quick attacks.  He managed to land several, and followed up with a sharp jab that connected solidly with Usher’s mouth.

Usher stepped back and spat blood, lower lip split against his fangs.  Then he grinned at Adam.  “You ready?”

Adam frowned.  “For what?”

“Your lesson.”

There was no need for elaboration.  Cool and confident, Usher started his own series of attacks.  Adam moved fast, blocking and dodging while he tried to fight back.  But the Player was apparently done playing.  For the first time, he revealed his true skill, moving as if through the steps of an elaborate dance.  Blow after blow rattled Adam’s head and body.  Soon, his head was spinning, his ears were ringing, his abdomen ached and his ribs protested every breath.  Adam fell back beneath the onslaught, trying to think.  He’s cocky, and I thought that was a weakness I could exploit.  But he’s cocky because he has the skills to back it up!  He’s better than me.  He’s the best I’ve ever seen, and I can’t beat him!

The crowd wasn’t silent anymore.  Amid the cheers for Usher, frightened voices cried Adam’s name, his supporters watching in stunned disbelief as Adam staggered, swayed, and then finally collapsed, landing on his rump in a dazed sprawl in the dirt at Usher’s feet.

He beat me!  I lost!  

Adam felt like throwing up.  Usher had beaten him, and now it was all over, everything he’d fought for was gone.  He’d be forced to submit, to give up being a warrior and settle for being little more than a slave.  No.  No, he couldn’t live like that, he had to get up!  But when he stumbled to his feet, his head spun.  His knees buckled and once again, he was sitting in a sprawl on the ground.

Screams and cheers rose, disbelief and triumph joining into an almost solid wall of sound that washed over the beaten omega, battering him as much as the general’s blows had done earlier.  And above it all was Gwen’s scream.  “Finish him, Usher!  He’s down, now finish him!  Finish him, and he’ll be Blake’s and this will all finally be over!  Do it, Usher, do it now!”

Adam could only blink up at Usher as the general leaned over him.  “Get up, Adam.”

Beaten, I’m beaten, what is he talking about, why doesn’t he just finish me?  

“Come on, Levine,” Usher called.  His eyes were bright as he looked at the battered omega at his feet.  “You’re the son of a Pack Alpha!  Now show me that fighting spirit!  Show me the heart of a western warrior!  Get up, Adam!  Get up!”

Somehow, Adam got to his feet.  He swayed, but reached deep, finding hidden reserves of strength.  The noise was overwhelming.  Adam didn’t understand why Usher hadn’t finished him.  But that was what Usher did.  He was the Player, and apparently he wasn’t quite finished with this game.

With a roar, Adam went after Usher again.  Usher skillfully blocked his attacks, striking back with quick precise hits that sent waves of pain through Adam’s body.  It was over, but Adam wouldn’t, couldn’t give up.  With gritted teeth, he fought on.  He closed with Usher, ready for one final attack.

And then nothing made sense.

Adam was aware of a hard tug on his shirt that made him stumble forward, head down, straight into Usher’s face.  Usher yelped and blood flew.  Something grabbed Adam’s hip for half a second as he took a step, bringing his left leg up to tangle with Usher’s.  Usher went down, grasping wildly for purchase, and caught Adam’s arm just above the elbow.  Adam, pulled off balance, went down with an elbow in Usher’s diaphragm.  All the air in Usher’s lungs was forced out through an almost comical yelp.

Shocked, Adam looked at Usher.  Blood flowing from his nose formed bubbles as Usher gasped for air.  And, almost imperceptibly, Adam saw him nod.

The two grappled together in the dirt, a tangled ball of dust and fur.  Adam’s mind was reeling, aware that Usher pulled every punch, scratched and kicked at the ground to stir up more dust and stayed close to disguise what he was doing.  The Player was playing the entire pack, making it appear that Adam had bounced back at the last moment and finally gained the upper hand.  “Why?” Adam whispered.

“Because you’ve torn this pack apart,” Usher whispered back, still appearing to struggle with Adam.  “And you’re the only one who can put it back together.  Now don’t let me down!”

“I won’t.”  Adam rose to his knees, straddling Usher as the general lay half-dazed beneath him.  Then he started pounding his fists down into Usher’s face.  The alpha’s eyes rolled back after the forth blow.  And by the sixth, he was still.

Screams and shouts rang out as the exhausted omega climbed off of the supposedly defeated general.  He glanced at Gwen, seeing her lovely face grow pale.  And the crowd fell silent, knowing what was coming next.  Waiting for Adam to imitate Gwen’s trademark killing strike.

Adam looked at Ben, who only looked sadly back at him.  And he knew then what he needed to do.  He looked at his mate who was standing, white-faced, as he was, still clinging to Gwen’s hand.  “Blake?” he called.  “Cover your eyes!”

“What?”

“Cover your eyes, Blake!  Don’t look!  I know what I have to do, but I can’t do it with you watching, now cover your eyes, dammit!”

Blake stared at him like Adam had just sprouted a second head.  Then he shook his head and, with a worried look at Usher, pulled free from Gwen to put both hands over his eyes.

Adam lifted Usher up.  The alpha was a gifted actor, it seemed.  His eyes fluttered and he groaned, wincing as his head rolled on his neck.  But his dark eyes held no fear as he looked up at Adam.

“I’m not an alpha.  I don’t need to be dominant.  Therefore, I release you from our bet,” Adam announced.  “Blake needs you, and he needs Pharrell and Christina, too.  I’ll release you all, so you can stand at his side and help defend this pack.  But you lost to an omega, Usher.  And now, I need to make that clear.”

Usher frowned in confusion.  He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he had planned to say was lost as Adam quickly bent down and kissed him.

Chapter Text

Adam was in serious pain.  The healers had patched him up, but the analgesic they’d given him wasn’t doing much for the pain.  Naturally, Blake had been upset about what Adam had done, although he’d freely admitted he understood the reasons behind the kiss.  It was obvious that making him cover his eyes had been a good idea.  But things had been strained and tense between them when Blake returned Adam to the dungeon.  Now the Pack Alpha was off on what was, in Adam’s opinion, a wild goose chase for ice.  The power had been off for days.  No one had ice.  But Blake was determined to search, hoping to ease some of the swelling Adam was suffering from.  Of course, Adam was well aware that the real reasoning behind Blake’s action was to give the alpha time to calm down.

When the door to the dungeon opened, Adam expected that Blake had returned.  But instead, Usher and Gwen came in.  Usher looked sullen, while Gwen was pale faced and angry.  Adam quickly got to his feet.  “Um, hi?”

Gwen stormed up to the bars and glared in at the battered omega.  “I am many things,” she began, “but stupid isn’t one of them.”

“No, you’re not.  The Destroyer,” he recited.  “Possesses an unusual amount of physical strength.  Fierce and completely loyal to her Pack Alpha.  The Destroyer is the most brutal of the four generals, delivering punishing blows backed by her strength and displaying no hesitation or mercy.  Her signature move is tearing out her opponent’s throat, causing instant death.  At the time of report, the only one known to be capable of defeating the Destroyer was the White Wolf himself.”  He looked hard at her.  “No, Gwen, you are vicious, but you’re not stupid.”

“I also know how Usher fights,” Gwen added.  “He’s better than you, Adam, and all three of us know it!  You never stood a chance in that fight!”  She rubbed at her temples.  “I have to admit, I still worried.  I worried about a fluke, about Usher making a mistake, about a million and one things that could have gone wrong to make Usher lose.”  Gwen straightened, narrowing her eyes at Adam.  “But that isn’t what happened, is it?  Don’t even try to lie to me, Levine.  I know he beat you!  And I know that he tried to play it like you’d won!  Now, I want to know the truth.”  She turned to regard her fellow general.  “Usher, why did you throw that fight?”

“Because we were wrong!” Usher declared.  “All we were seeing was that Adam had divided the pack.  But there’s another side to it, Gwen.  I started to realize it when I saw the way Adam stood up for Ben and backed off those omegas.  But I didn’t really see it until he came to fight me, and did that western salute of his.”

Usher demonstrated, and Gwen’s scowl deepened.  Usher rolled his eyes.  “I’m just showing you, calm down.  But for real, Gwen!  Didn’t you see, how it was returned?  Or more importantly, who returned it?  For the first time, alphas, betas, and omegas are coming together, contributing to the pack in ways they’ve never considered before Adam came along and challenged everyone’s idea of gender roles.  Yes, he’s stirred things up, but that’s a good thing, Gwen.  Frankly, it’s long overdue!”

“Well, at least you didn’t try to lie and say you lost.”  Gwen grimaced.  “Damn you, Usher!  How could you betray Blake?”

“I didn’t betray Blake!  I…”

Gwen suddenly snarled.  “You absolutely betrayed Blake!  Ok, maybe we were wrong to suppress the omegas and betas the way we did.  Maybe a change does need to happen.  But don’t you see, the way Levine’s gone about it is all wrong!  He’s been fighting, taking down general after general, and every time he does, it says two things.  First, we were wrong, and I’ll freely admit to that.  But he’s also saying that non-alphas aren’t just the equal of alphas, but they’re better!  And if alphas aren’t fit to keep their roles as leaders and heads of the household, how can they possibly be fit to run this pack?”  She looked pleadingly at Usher.  “Don’t you get it?  Every time Levine took down a general, he made Blake look less and less fit to lead.  Now even the betas are bucking his authority!  I saw him walking down the street today, and a couple of betas were coming the other direction.  I know they saw him, I mean, how could you miss Blake?  But they just squared their shoulders and kept walking, making Blake, the fucking Pack Alpha, walk around them!  They don’t respect him anymore, Usher, and at the worst possible time!  Blake’s losing all his power right when we’re just waiting for an attack, and you just helped it happen!”

“Ok, hold it!” Adam yelled.  “Dammit, that’s what he was talking about!  Gwen, you’re right, ok?  Blake asked me last night to stand with him and show we’re a united force, but I didn’t get it.  I guess I thought he was still trying to keep me down.  But he’s feeling it, the way his power is being eroded.  And right now more than ever, this pack needs Blake’s strength!”  He leaned against the wall and winced.  “Oh wow, I seriously fucked up, didn’t I?  I thought I could help him by bringing back his generals, but that only weakened you, and him, even more, didn’t it?”

“You’re damned right it did!  Short of actually taking down Blake and declaring yourself Pack Alpha, I cannot think of a single thing you could have done to make it worse.  Now they’re generals because an omega allowed it!” Gwen exclaimed, throwing up her hands.  “Usher, you’re the public man.  What the hell are we going to do?  How can we turn this around?”

“Well, for starters, you don’t dare fight Adam now,” Usher sighed.  “If you beat him, you’ll have to kill him, and that just turns him into a martyr.  And if he wins, well, Blake’s probably finished as Pack Alpha.  If he’s not already finished!”  He slammed his hand against his thigh in frustration.  “Fuck!  I fucked up!  I knew I couldn’t afford to beat Adam, but I didn’t see the whole picture, what it would mean if I lost!”

Adam groaned.  “What do I do, guys?  Where’s Pharrell, he’s the brains, can’t he think of something?”

“Pharrell can’t help,” Gwen snapped.  “This is all on Blake!  He’s the one who let it get this far, and he is the only one who can turn it around.”

“She’s right.  Blake’s in serious trouble,” Usher warned.  “Unless he can turn this around fast, the pack will just stop listening to him.  And the problem is, I don’t know that Blake cares so much.  It’s like he’s not even paying any real attention!”

“And once again, that’s on you, because it’s obvious Blake can’t focus on anything else but you!” Gwen snapped.  “My omega told me that the betas told her that the two of you have grown close, strengthened your bond.  But there’s still a big gulf between you.  You don’t go to his chambers, and the other night, Blake actually slept in here with you?  The betas thought it was a joke!  The Pack Alpha, the mighty White Wolf, sleeping on the dirt in a dungeon cell?  Blake is becoming a laughing stock, Levine!  What’s going on?”

Adam looked down.  “He wanted to take me to his chambers last night, but I just couldn’t do it.  I can’t get past what he did to me,” he confessed.  “We haven’t slept together since my heat because I can’t bear the thought of him touching me again.  I need time to heal.”

“We haven’t got time!” Gwen complained.  “We have no idea what’s going on with the ferals and this pack is in chaos!  Can’t you just lay back, spread, and think happy thoughts?”

Adam glared at her.  “Could you, if you were in my position?”

“For Blake?  Absolutely!”

“Gwen!”  Usher shook his head.  “You can’t ask Adam to bury his feelings, because he’s all heart.  That’s simultaneously the most and least omega thing about him.”

“Then what, exactly, are we going to do?” Gwen asked sharply.  “Blake needs to reestablish himself as Pack Alpha, and he can’t do that until he fixes things with his mate.  If that means Adam has to prove he’s ok by sleeping with him, then if he cares anything about Blake, that’s what he needs to do!”

Adam gaped at her.  “Holy shit, you are one cold bitch!”

Usher frowned.  “Adam!”

But Adam had gotten to his feet, snarling at Gwen.  “I do care about Blake.  It’s the only thing I’m completely sure about in my life right now, that I care about him!  But do you not realize how long it’s taken, how much I had to give, before I could get to that point, where I could admit that?  Blake killed my family, raped my mother, destroyed my home and my pack, claimed me against my will and then repeatedly forced himself on me!  He took everything away from me.  That isn’t something I can just shrug off!  The fact that I’ve been able to come even this far is a testament to my resilience, Gwen.  But I’m not made out of stone, ok?  I’ll try.  I’ll do my best to support Blake, and I’ll tell that to anyone who comes to see me.  But I can’t let him touch me again!  Not yet.  I just can’t allow it!”

Gwen stilled, her cool gaze studying Adam.  “Fine.  Then I’ll find another way.  Usher, let’s go.”  And with that, she turned on her heel and headed out.

Usher rubbed his hands over his face.  “Adam,” he began, “I have all the respect for you right now.  I get what you’re saying.  But if that's how it is, then you need to find another way to support Blake, ok?  Because unless he can regain the pack’s trust, there is no way we are going to survive another feral attack.”

“I understand,” Adam sighed.  “I’ll try.”

After Usher had gone, Adam was again alone with his thoughts.  What can I do?  I know Blake would be so much better if I could go back to how things were at the heat camp, renew our bond again.  My omega’s been crying for him, and his alpha is probably the same.  But I can’t!  So what do I do?  How can I show my support for Blake in a way that lets everyone know that yes, he’s changed, but he’s still strong, still fit to be Pack Alpha?  He struggled with that, pacing restlessly as far as his chain would allow, but could find no answer.

He was still thinking a moment later, when his cell door opened once more.  He’d looked up to find about a dozen betas had come in.  None of them would look him in the eye, but several carried bundles of rope.  Adam frowned.  “What?”

“We have orders from the Pack Alpha,” the redhead said quietly.

“Blake?  What does he…”  And then, suddenly, Adam understood.

Apparently, Blake had chosen a different way to renew their bond.

Chapter Text

Blake knew something had gone terribly wrong.  During his completely unsuccessful search for ice, he’d felt through the bond link that Adam was upset.  Blake had immediately headed to the dungeon.  But Adam wasn’t there.  A quick question to the betas had elicited nothing but confusion.  They’d been following Blake’s orders as they’d been relayed to them, they explained.  They’d taken his mate to his chambers.  They were all upset, many with eyes red from crying, but they got it.  No one needed to threaten or hurt them anymore.  Blake was still the Pack Alpha.  He’d had the right to assert his dominance, and Adam had turned down the bet, after all.  That meant Blake was under no restrictions to leave Adam alone.  He could do as he wished.  Wasn’t that what Blake had wanted?

Horrified, Blake had run to his chambers, heart pounding at what he might find.  He stopped with his hand on the latch, hearing the muffled sounds coming from behind the door.  Blake’s blood froze in his veins.  No!

Blake burst through the door, and confirmed his worst fears.  Adam, oblivious of his injuries, was thrashing and struggling yet again, gagged, naked and bound tightly to Blake’s bed.  It was as though they’d never gone to the heat camp.  But this time, rather than his usual angry and defiant glare, Adam looked over at Blake through wide, fearful eyes.  The whimper he gave broke Blake's heart.

“No, no, no!”  Blake raced over to the bed, quickly pulling the gag free.  “No, baby, I’m so sorry!”

“You promised!” Adam cried.  “How could you do this?  You promised you’d never force me again!”

“I did promise, and I didn’t do this, I swear it!”  Blake’s fingers fumbled at the leather cuff on Adam’s wrist.  “Shh, calm down, I’ll get you loose.”

And then came the worst sound of all.  Adam gave a low, hiccuping sob.  The sweet hazel eyes filled with tears that spilled through his lashes to run unchecked down his cheeks.  “You p-promised, Blake, please!  Please, let me go!”

“I’m trying, baby!” 

Blake couldn’t move fast enough.  The minute Adam’s hands were free he started struggling with his collar.  Blake quickly untied his legs and Adam flipped over, straining against the chain that still held him to the bed.  “Let me go!”

“Stop!  You’re gonna to hurt yourself!”  Blake tried to pull Adam close, desperate to calm him down.  But Adam cried out in panic and went wild in his arms, hitting, kicking, and scratching at Blake until the alpha finally jumped back.  “Ok!  Ok!  Adam!  Please calm down!”

But Adam was beyond reach.  He rolled off the bed and fought desperately against the chain, dragging Blake’s oversized bed across the room.  Over and over again, he let out a harsh cry.  It was as if he’d lost the ability to form coherent words.  Blake had no idea what to do.  Before, Adam had always shielded his emotions with his anger.  It had been his armor against what was happening to him.  But now that armor had fallen.  Adam had chosen to trust Blake, to let down his guard.  When he’d been brought back here, Blake realized, he'd come to one inescapable conclusion.

Blake had betrayed his trust.

Adam had believed he was about to be raped again.  And this time, betrayed by someone he’d dared to trust, the omega wasn’t prepared to deal with the flood of emotions the experience brought.

Blake looked around.  Spotting an extra fur over the back of a chair, he snatched it up.  This, he opened and carefully approached Adam.  Adam snarled, ducking down into the corner even as he continued to struggle against the collar.  “Easy,” Blake called.  “I’m not gonna hurt ya.  Here.”

Getting to his knees, Blake spread the fur wide and held it towards Adam.  Adam grabbed it, holding it against himself like he could somehow disappear behind it.  His eyes rolled in panic and he panted, shaking.  Blake carefully backed away on his knees, only standing when he was past the end of the bed.  Then he jogged to the dresser, collected the keys there, and carefully returned to the bed.  “It’s ok,” he soothed, unlocking the chain from the bed.  He gently pushed it towards Adam and raised his hands, backing away.  “I swear to God, I didn’t do this, Adam.  I didn’t order it!  I don’t know who did.  But I won’t hurt you, I swear it!  Please, please believe me!  I love you, baby.  I love you so much!  And I won’t force you, not now, and not ever again!”

Adam snatched up his chain, quickly gathering it up and holding it protectively against himself.  For some time, he simply stayed as he was.  But gradually, as Blake kept talking to him in soothing tones, Adam’s breathing slowed.  He shivered, wrapping the fur tightly around himself.  Blake looked around and found Adam’s clothing.  This he carefully put on the bed, making sure to keep the bed itself between him and the traumatized omega.

Adam grabbed his clothing as though fearful it would be taken from him.  Keeping a wary eye on Blake, he began to dress, always making sure he remained covered with the fur.  Finally donning his shirt, Adam pulled the chain through the neck of the shirt, gathering the length of it in his hands.  By now, he appeared much calmer.  But his eyes were still wide, glancing constantly at Blake.

“Adam?” Blake called gently.  “I don’t want to come over there, because I don’t want you to feel trapped in that corner.  I’m going to sit right here, on the edge of the bed, ok?  I’d like you to come up here with me.  If you do, I can hold you.  I know you like that, right?  Being held?”

Adam nodded.  He eyed Blake as the larger man sat on the bed, keeping his hands in view.  Adam looked ready to bolt at any minute.

Blake sat perfectly still on the bed.  His blue eyes sadly watched Adam.

Slowly, Adam got up.  He started to climb up onto the bed, flinching violently when one of the torches popped.  But when Blake didn’t move, Adam crawled over, and a moment later, he was in Blake’s lap.  Blake slowly brought his arms around the omega and held him close, rocking him gently as Adam nuzzled into his neck.  And then Adam’s shoulders shook with sobs.  “They took me up here, and I thought…  Especially when they took my clothes and tied me down again.  I begged them to stop, Blake, but they said you’d ordered it!  They were so upset, some of them were crying, but they had to do it because they would be beaten if they didn’t.  And all I could think was that you’d lied to me, Blake.  Then you came in, and I was trapped, and…  And I thought you were going to…  To…”

Blake only barely heard him.  All he could hear was the furious howling of his alpha.  His mate was upset.  Adam was hurt far worse now than he’d ever been in all of his fights combined.  And it was nothing that the healers could fix.  Adam was crying.  His strong, beautiful Adam was crying, and the instinct to protect his omega was overwhelming him.  And Blake knew.  He knew exactly who it was who had done this.  Reduced Adam to this horrible state of vulnerability and fear.  Shattered the trust he’d worked so hard to build.  Blake felt hate like he’d never felt before.

In Blake’s arms, Adam was oblivious to the signs of the red haze falling, the deepening fury in Blake’s eyes.  Flustered and upset, he was trying to change the subject.  “Gwen and Usher came to see me today,” he said.  “They’re worried about you.  We all are.  Gwen thinks that you’re losing your power, your hold over the pack as Pack Alpha.”

Blake didn’t reply.  His arms around Adam were almost uncomfortably tight, but at the moment, it was what Adam needed.  Adam closed his eyes, leaning into Blake.  “It’s uncanny, how much Ben looks like you.  Gwen really is in love with you.  I suspect that’s been the case for a while, but you knew that, didn’t you?  But really, who cares?  So she’s in love with another alpha.  That’s not hurting anyone, except Ben, I suppose.  And me, because her jealousy gives her a fairly irrational hatred of me.  She tried to tell me today that I should, well, she flat-out said I should just spread and think happy thoughts.  She knew that you’ve been distracted, because we’ve got this gulf between us, you and I.  And she’s only wanting what’s best for you, of course.  But I couldn’t, I mean, look at what happened here!  I still can’t stop shaking!”  Adam paused, frowning.  “Wait.  Blake, you don’t think that maybe Gwen was the one who…?”

A low snarl rumbled from deep in Blake’s chest.  Alarmed, Adam looked up, seeing too late the mindless animal rage in Blake’s eyes, the berserker haze washing out all conscious thought.  Blake’s arms crushed Adam against his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs even as the white fur appeared and Blake threw back his head in a terrifying howl.  No!  Adam squirmed frantically as Blake rose.  “No, Blake!” he gasped.  “Stop!  Let me go!”

To his great relief, the berserker did let Adam go.  But he did so only long enough to wrap one arm around Adam’s waist and tuck the omega under his arm.

And then glass flew as the White Wolf raced to the mirror on the wall and shattered it to pieces.

Adam yelled, trying desperately to get loose as the White Wolf turned and kicked down the door of his chambers.  Blake was strong normally.  Lost in berserker rage, his strength was unbelievable.  Try as he might, Adam couldn’t squirm free.  The White Wolf howled again, the sound making Adam’s blood run cold, and headed towards the front door, smashing the furniture in his direct path.  Adam frantically gathered up his chain.  If it caught now, he knew, he would more than likely get his head torn off, because the White Wolf wouldn't let him go and wasn’t stopping.  The berserker systematically smashed his way through anything and anyone in his path, veering left and right again and again to smash glass.  The street was littered with sparkling stars that glittered in the torchlight.  On he went, moving towards his goal with a horrifying single-minded purpose.

All Adam could do was yell warnings and try to reach him.  “Blake, please!  They’ve got a baby, Blake, little Dylan!  What’s Ben gonna do without Gwen?  Blake, please, put me down and talk to me!  Blake, stop!”

But nothing and no one could slow the White Wolf.  Screams and cries of pain joined the broken objects, shattered glass, and moaning bodies that littered the ground in his path.  Again, the berserker smashed a window and Adam yelped, a knifelike shard of glass slicing his arm as it fell.  There was glass in his hair, glass in his shirt.  He was bleeding from a dozen small cuts.  But the berserker refused to let him go.  Adam had a front row seat to a spectacle he had no desire to see.

Just ahead, Adam could see Gwen’s home.  And to his horror, Gwen herself appeared in the door.  In an instant, she took in the rolling eyes and foaming muzzle of the White Wolf, Adam struggling in his grasp, and the panicked cries of the pack as they ran for cover.  As the White Wolf roared and charged forward, Adam screamed.  “Gwen!  Run!  For the love of God, run!”

But Gwen was frozen in place, open mouthed, watching through shocked eyes as the monster in the body of the man she loved bore down on her.

****

Blake was lost in the scent of his mate, but it was wrong.  Adam’s sweet scent had been tainted with the acrid stench of omega distress.  Beneath him, Adam was struggling, fighting against Blake even as someone whispered desperately for him to hold still for fuck’s sake, he needs this, you’ll be fine, just hold still!

“It’s ok, Blake.  Adam’s right there.  You protected him, like a good alpha.”  Usher’s voice, but it was wrong, too.  There was a curious hitch to his voice.  “We’re here, Blake, we’re all right here, me and Adam and Pharrell and Christina.”

“Please get off of me!  Let me up, Blake!”

“Shush, Adam!  It’s ok, Blake.  We’re here with you.  Come back to us, Blake, please!”

That was Christina, and she sounded odd, too.  Her voice sounded as if she’d been crying.  Christina never cried.  Who had made Christina cry?  A low growl rose in Blake’s throat.

“It’s ok, Blake!” Pharrell soothed.  “You’re such a good alpha, such a good mate.  You protected your omega, and now he’s safe.  You’ve got him, Blake, see?  He’s right there.  You kept him safe.  You did so good, Blake!”

Safe.  Adam was safe.  Adam was here, lying beneath him as Blake licked at his claiming bite.  Bit by bit, the red haze was falling away.  Blake nuzzled back into Adam’s neck, scenting him, licking again.  Beneath him, Adam was pale and shaking, his head turned away and his eyes closed.  His breathing was fast and his hands were tight fists next to his head as Blake pinned them.  “How can you tell him that, over and over?” he asked.  “How can you say it, after what he’s done?”

“Because it’s what he needs to hear to bring him back down,” Christina hissed.  “Now just hold still and be quiet, Adam!  We know what we’re doing, ok?  Come on, guys, he’s ready for us.”

Usher nodded.  “Ok, I’ll start.”

Aaah, this was good.  Usher’s hands were on Blake’s shoulders now, massaging, rubbing the stiffness away.  It felt good, calm, like Usher’s voice.  “You did good, Blake.  You protected Adam, and no one will hurt him now.  He’s right there.  You have him, and nothing will hurt him.”

Something was wet on Adam’s face.  Blake licked at his cheek and tasted salt.  Now a trail of blood marred Adam’s beauty, stained his cheek.  But Adam was covered in blood.  It was clotting in his hair, covering his arms, staining his shirt and spread over the floor.  Still, he knew Adam wasn’t hurt.  His friends had said so, that Blake had protected his omega.  He’d been a good alpha, and now Adam was safe and no one would ever hurt him again.

Crystal tears were shining on Adam’s lashes, glistening in the torchlight.  He was so beautiful.  Blake licked his claiming bite again.  “Mine.”

Adam’s breath hitched.  “Please let me go!”

“Shush, Adam.  It’s ok, Blake, he’s yours, and you protected him.”

From somewhere far away, a baby was crying.  Adults were crying too, and talking in low voices.  Someone was outside the door.  “How is he?”

“Still coming down,” Pharrell reported.  “Adam being here is helping a lot.  He started down a lot quicker with him there than he did during the war.”

“I didn’t have a choice!”  Adam’s voice was bitter.  “He hasn’t let go of me since this started, and now he’s holding me down right in this huge puddle of…!”

“Hush, Adam!” Christiana ordered.  She moved to join Usher, coming near Blake to scratch that spot behind his ear he liked so much.  “Good job, Blake.  You did good.”

Blake’s eyes closed for a moment, and he sighed in bliss.  Something screamed in the back of his mind that it was wrong, terribly wrong, something was missing and nothing would ever be right again.  But for now, all was well.  He basked in the praise, reveled in the gentle touch of his friends, and breathed in the scent of his mate.  Yes, Adam had blood on his face now and he kept squirming, trying to pull his wrists free or get out from under Blake as the berserker straddled him, but ah, here was Pharrell, rubbing the fur on his arm the way he liked.  His eyebrow twitched, waiting for Gwen to come and scratch it.  Gwen always scratched his eyebrow, and she did it just right.  In fact, Gwen usually started this, the touches that calmed him, chased the red haze away and returned him to himself.  Gwen must be outside, dealing with whatever it was that had set him off, created this terrible confusing berserker haze, where was she, why was everyone crying there was so much blood where was Gwen please please where was she where was she where was she?

“Blake?”  Pharrell could see Blake’s eyes, and noted the return of the Pack Alpha’s senses.

“Where is she?” Blake asked.  “Where’s Gwen?”

No answer.

Outside, a baby cried.

Adam tried again to squirm free.  “Let me up!”

“Adam?” Usher called.  “We need you to stay there, ok?  We have to tell him what happened, and your being there helped more than anything else we could do.  If he goes under again…?”

Adam sighed and turned his face away again, closing his eyes.  “Just tell him, already!  I can’t stand this much longer!”

Blake was looking around in a daze.  The walls and ceiling were dripping blood, adding to the growing pool on the floor.  He knelt in that pool, him and his generals, and he was holding Adam down in it.  Adam was lying in a pool of congealing blood.  Blake turned confused eyes towards Usher, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

Usher sighed.  “Blake, I need you to listen to me, ok?” he began.  “I don’t know exactly what it was that set you off, but it was bad this time.  Real bad.”

“It was me,” Adam called bitterly.  He still refused to look up at Blake.  “Gwen gave orders to take me to his chambers, you know, like before.  But I didn’t know it was her!  I thought he’d betrayed me, broke his promise, and I couldn’t take it!  He got me calmed down, but, I don’t know, he just snapped!  He picked me up, smashed the mirror, and out the door we went.”  Adam’s shaking increased.  “It was awful!  There was nothing I could do.  I couldn’t stop him, couldn’t make him let me go…  Let me go, Blake, stop holding me down, fucking let go of me!” 

Adam was struggling again.  Blake blinked down at him, too confused and shocked to move.

Christina shushed Adam, gently putting her hand on the traumatized omega’s shoulder.  “I’m sorry, Blake,” she said softly, seeing the dazed, shocked look on the Pack Alpha’s face.  “But Adam’s had a hell of a day.  You carried him right along with you as you went through the town, headed here.  Pharrell and I were clear on the other side of the city, and I don’t know where Usher was…”

“In the meeting hall, doing busy work.”  Usher’s voice was bitter.  “I ran right out when I heard the commotion, but it was like you didn’t even see me.  Adam was under your arm like a rolled-up rug, screaming and struggling, and you were charging towards Gwen’s place…”

“I couldn’t get loose or get you to respond to anything I said,” Adam accused.  “And meanwhile, you smashed out every window on the street.  Glass was everywhere, falling down on me and out into the street.  It’s how I got that cut on my arm.”

Blake looked, seeing the cut on Adam’s forearm.  He gasped and finally released Adam, quickly climbing off of the upset omega.  “I let you get hurt?  I don’t understand.  What was I doing?  Why would I break the glass?”

“You were protecting Adam,” Pharrell answered.  He held up a hand as Adam jumped up, and Adam froze, clutching his chain to himself and looking warily at Blake.  “We didn’t understand, not at first.  Usher tried to get your attention and you threw him through another window.  But I believe, based on where you went and what you did when you got there, that all you were trying to do was protect Adam from the one person you hated above anyone else, the one who had hurt him the most.”

Blake looked around, shaking.  “This is Gwen’s house?” he said.  “There’s blood everywhere!  What the hell did I do?  Someone tell me where Gwen is!  I went after her?  But I don’t hate her!  I never hated Gwen!”

But Pharrell was shaking his head.  “Not Gwen.  You, Blake.  You were trying to protect Adam from you.”  He looked sadly at the Pack Alpha.  “It sounds like you realized that Gwen was the one who had Adam taken to your chambers, but Gwen wasn’t the reason he was afraid, was she?  You knew who was responsible for that!  That’s why you attacked the mirror in your chambers first.  Then you took out every reflective surface along the way here.  You were trying to save Adam from yourself!”

Blake looked at Adam, but the omega stared at the floor, refusing to meet his eyes.  “I don’t understand,” Blake said.  “Why did I attack Gwen?”

“You didn’t Blake!” Adam yelled, finally turning hostile eyes towards Blake, ignoring the attempts of the generals to calm him.  “Like Pharrell said, the only one you wanted to destroy was yourself!  It was like it was raining glass!  You just went back and forth, smashing out every window you could see your reflection in.  But you’re a berserker, Blake, and the only thing that could sate you was blood.  So you came here, to the one image of yourself that bleeds!”

“No!” Blake groaned.  “You mean, I went after…?”

“You went after Ben!"  Adam was crying again, yelling even as the generals drew back in fear, watching the unpredictable berserker with alarm.  “You attacked a sweet, gentle omega, and all I could do was watch!  I couldn’t stop you, Blake!  You just went after him, and he was so terrified, and no one, no one could stop you!”

Blake’s head spun.  He grabbed Adam and held him close, oblivious to the omega’s cries and frantic efforts to get away.  In his horror, only Adam could ground Blake as he looked pleadingly at his generals.  “Did I kill him?  Tell me I didn’t kill Ben!”

“You didn’t kill me,” Ben called from the door.  “But I’m here, if you still want to do it.”

The room exploded in chaos.  Still holding a struggling Adam close, Blake got up and stepped closer to Ben, pushing past the generals who frantically tried to stop him or get Ben to leave.

Ben stayed fearlessly where he was.  The omega’s face was covered in blood, a set of ragged claw marks curving from his right temple down past his chin.  His face would likely scar.  But it was his eyes that sent sharp icy knives of fear into Blake’s heart.  Ben’s eyes were empty, hollow, full of unbearable pain as they looked back at Blake.  “I don’t care, Pack Alpha,” Ben said.  “If you want to finish me, I know my Dylan will be cared for.  All I ask is that you find the rest of my children, my betas, and see to their care as well.  It’s the least you could do for us, for her.  In the end, she really was my mate.  My true alpha.  She faced down the White Wolf, fought a berserker to protect me, Blake, and brought your rage against herself.  And when you cut her down, I believe, in my heart, that for the first time, she really did love me.”

Blake held Adam against him as though he would somehow disappear if Blake let him go.  “No.  No!  Gwen!”

“I’m sorry, Blake,” Christina whispered.  “She’s gone.”

****

In the end, only Adam’s presence kept Blake from berserking again and making things even worse.  Adam understood this and finally stopped struggling, even though he couldn’t look Blake in the eyes.  The Pack Alpha moved as if in a daze, changing out of his bloody clothing and letting Adam do the same, getting them both cleaned up, keeping his mate close while his pack readied the funeral pyre.  He said not a word to anyone except for a few quick whispers to a beta, who glanced wide-eyed at him and then scurried off.  With dry eyes, Blake watched as Gwen’s wrapped body was placed on the pyre, the fire lit.  He listened to the wails and cries of sorrow all around, but didn’t join in.  He was too hollow for tears.

Adam stayed without protest, letting Blake keep him near.  He moved with Blake in silence, his eyes watching the funeral procession, silent and stiff but not resisting as Blake held him.  Nor did he lean into the alpha’s embrace as he normally would.  He looked everywhere but in Blake’s eyes.

As the pyre burned down, Adam silently allowed Blake to lead him out of the square.  He frowned, realizing that Blake was taking him away from the buildings, moving to the western border of the city.  “Where are you taking me?”

“Right here.”  Blake paused, accepting a wrapped bundle and something metallic from the beta he’d whispered to earlier.  The beta was looking at Blake with a curious mixture of sadness and awe, sniffing and wiping at his eyes.  He shot Adam a look, and then ran off.  Blake put the bundle at his feet and reached forward, fumbling with Adam’s collar.

And then suddenly, the collar was gone, the breeze cool on the exposed skin of Adam’s neck.  Adam gasped, hand going to his throat.  It had been so long since he could do it that his skin felt almost foreign.  His fingers traced the callouses there, wide surprised eyes moving from the collar in Blake’s hand to his face.  “You said you couldn’t take it off until I was accepted by the pack?”

“When you fought Usher, the omegas and betas pretty much all returned your salute, and so did some of the alphas,” Blake said gruffly.  “That’s the majority of this pack on your side, and probably more after today.  You are accepted by the pack, Adam, probably more than I am right now.  And if tonight has proven anything at all to me, it’s that as long as you are near me, you’re not safe.  I can’t protect you from what I am.  And I never want you to look at me again the way you did tonight.”

Blake reached down, picked up the bundle, placed it on Adam’s back and helped adjust the ropes, making a secure pack on Adam’s back.  “There’s supplies, some of your clothes, a tarp and stakes, some furs, food and water, and some flint and magnesium to start a fire,” Blake told him.  “Do you think you could set up the tarp yourself?”

“I…  I think?”

“Good.  There’s also a map, and take this.”  Blake hooked a sheathed knife onto Adam’s belt.  Then he pointed behind the omega.  “That way is west.  Head straight west until you reach the river, and then follow the map.  You should reach your old homelands in a day or so.  I know there’s some alphas running around in the mountains from your old pack, and a few other stragglers.  Join up with them, form a new pack.  And be safe.  Please.”

Adam stood as he was, staring numbly at the Pack Alpha.  “You’re…  You’re letting me go?  You’re really letting me go?  Blake…!”

Blake swept Adam into a hug, burying his face in Adam’s hair and breathing in his scent one last time.  Adam remained as he was, standing stiffly in Blake’s arms, blinking in stunned disbelief.  “Go, Adam,” Blake urged, releasing him.  “Go.”

Adam’s hazel eyes were sparkling pools of liquid in the distant light of the funeral pyre.  He looked for a moment up at Blake, his hand once again rising to his throat.  Then he turned, walking into the darkness.

The night swallowed him, and just like that, he was gone.

Chapter Text

Blake rolled out of bed and landed on the floor with a heavy thud.  He groaned.  The floor clearly had an unnatural obsession with his body.  It was insisting on dragging him down to sprawl on it.  Rude.  Of course, the sun was worse.  The evil rays played havoc with his hangover.

Blake peeked up and over at the lump under the furs on his bed.  He could see a pair of hands and some long blonde strands of hair protruding from them.  He put his head back down with a groan.  In truth, he’d only vaguely remembered the blonde omega he’d knotted last night in a drunken haze.  Mostly, she’d given him nightmares.  He rested his head on the floor, sighed, and stared at the hand dangling off the bed.  He peeked back up at the bed, noting two hands, and then under at the dangling hand.  Math was way too hard this morning, but either the scary blonde omega was scarier than he’d thought, or she’d brought a friend.  Blake thought he remembered a second blonde.  Didn’t matter.

Blake reached up, his hand fumbling under his pillow until it touched leather.  Pulling the collar free, Blake brought it to his face and sniffed deeply.  Even this was losing its scent.  But it was all he had.  Blake closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the fading scent.  Then he carefully replaced the collar beneath his pillow.

Denying the floor further pleasure of his company, Blake got up.  The thought of eating caused him to lose the contents of his stomach into the closest open container, which happened to be his laundry bin.  Great.  The betas were going to give him the hairy eyeball again.

Somehow, he got through his morning routine without causing further damage.  Then the bleary-eyed Pack Alpha headed outside.  He couldn’t help but glance towards the dungeon.  Even knowing Adam wasn’t there, hadn’t been there for over a week, it didn’t matter.  Every time he passed the dungeon, he found himself looking, wanting to see the omega.  Even the celebration last night, and its abundance of beer, whiskey, and plenty of unclaimed omegas willing to ease his pain had barely numbed the surface of it.  It was unbelievable, how much Blake’s alpha still hurt.  Where was Adam now?  Was he safe?  Had he made it to his homeland?  If so, what had he found?  Adam could likely avoid the ferals, but what of the rebel remnants of his old pack? 

One thing Blake knew for sure was that someone had taken Adam in.  Wherever he was, he wasn’t alone, and that was good, comforting to know.  Blake’s hand moved of its own accord, touching the fading scar on his neck.  He hoped Adam was happy, despite how much his alpha howled in agony or how much his broken heart ached.

Ah, here came Ben hurrying after him, carrying Blake’s favorite mug.  Bless the man.  Ben’s wounds had healed well, leaving only the jagged scars on his face.  But while his eyes remained as gentle as ever, the sorrow in them might never fade.  Already, the curly dark hair he’d cropped short as a sign of mourning was becoming streaked gunmetal grey.

Blake took a long drink from his mug.  “Ben, if I ever get that drunk again, I want you to punch me right in the face.  Hard.”

“I know how much it hurts,” Ben offered.  “Believe me, I know.  But you did the right thing, Blake.  I’m glad you let him go.”

Trust Ben to get right to the heart of the problem.  Blake smiled despite the sharp pain in his heart.  “Yeah, me too.”  Blake slipped his arm around the omega’s shoulders and hugged him tightly, bringing Ben along for a while as he walked towards the meeting hall.  His presence was soothing.

He’d been quite surprised when Ben had packed his things and moved himself and his children into Blake’s house.  Ben had more reason to hate him than anyone.  But the omega had managed to reclaim not only his missing beta children, but his Pack Alpha, as well.  When his generals had been forced to withdraw to heal their own wounds, Ben had been there.  “She would have been here for you,” he’d explained.  “She loved you, and I love her.  So I’ll do what she would have wanted.”  And then the omega had proceeded to do just that.  It was Ben who had stayed with Blake, helping him through the worst of his pain and refusing to let the alpha give in to his grief, even on that terrible day when his bond was broken. 

Ben’s forgiveness had healed the worst of Blake’s wounds.  Now, the Pack Alpha couldn’t imagine life without him.  The omega asked for nothing in return, but Blake had quietly made arrangements to keep him and his children on a more permanent basis.  It was strictly platonic, with Ben having his own living space separate from Blake, and Blake never going in unless invited.  Blake frequently joked that Ben was the best looking omega in the pack, to which Ben rolled his eyes and announced that it was too bad he couldn’t say the same about the alpha.  But for now, it was just a joke.  He didn’t know if he’d really ever want to claim Ben, or if Ben would even want that.  But until and unless Ben found a new mate, Blake had every intention of keeping him.

“You did deserve to celebrate a bit,” Ben was saying, falling into step next to Blake.  “The supply trains getting through from the west and the rains coming?  That was worth celebrating!  Granted, you took it a bit far, what with the dancing on the table, the nude streaking through the city, the crying jag and bedding both of the Turner sisters…”

“In the face.  Hard.”

Ben chuckled.  “Can I use a frying pan?”

“Yes.”  Blake hugged Ben again, planting a kiss on his temple.  “See ya later, good lookin’.”

The omega smiled and headed back towards the house.  Blake continued into the hall, glad for the return of the electric lights.

His generals were already there when Blake came in, ready to make fun of him and last night’s drunken antics.  Things were still a bit awkward, Blake noted, with the camaraderie not quite what it once was.  But they were definitely getting better.  Blake grinned and made a preemptive strike.  “Morning!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.  “How’s your hangovers?”

He smirked, moving to his chair amid groans and verbal abuse.  Christina had supplied everyone with a mug of beer and they’d all been nursing at them, trying to ease the pounding in their heads.  As always, a mug was sitting in front of the empty red chair near the head of the table.  Blake raised his mug towards Gwen’s chair in salute and took a drink before he took his own chair.  He listened for a bit to the jeers and teasing about last night’s antics, firing back with some shots of his own.  And then it was time to get down to business.

Usher began with the morning report.  “The farmlands are doing well.  This most recent rain did wonders for the crops, and just in time!  The farmers said that between the rain and how much the workforce has improved, we should expect full stores for the winter.”

“Speaking of the work force?” Christina called.  “We’ve had about twenty more betas apply for the new marriage ceremony.  All but one beta orphanage is empty, and that last one is still sorting through applications from the new beta couples who want to adopt.  Oh, and there’s a pair of omegas who want a marriage ceremony, too.  Genius to include non-traditional alpha or omega pairings in that ceremony, Usher.”

“What about the other end of that?” Blake asked.  “The claim breaking ceremony?”

“Actually, it’s not as bad as we feared,” Pharrell said.  “Now that we’ve outlawed forced claiming and the omegas in a bad bond have the option to break it, most of the worst alphas have straightened up.  We’re still having some trouble, mostly in the slums.”  He grimaced.  “One alpha in particular comes to mind.  Cowardly piece of shit.  He beat his omega so badly when she wanted to leave that she nearly died!  So Patrick paid him a visit, had a long chat, and he’s already signed the papers for the ceremony.”

Blake grinned.  “And just how many bones got broken in that chat?”

“No more than three,” Pharrell assured.  “Once he heals, you can decide if he’s improved, imprisoned, or exiled.”

“Only three broken bones this time?  Patrick’s getting better!” Christina commented.  “Your mate is turning into a real bruiser, Pharrell.  At this rate, he’ll be as good as…”  She clamped her hands over her mouth.

“…As good as Adam,” Blake finished quietly.  “Let’s stop walking on eggshells around me, shall we?  It’s been eight days now since I let him go, and three since he broke our bond.  Adam’s moved on, found someone new.  I don’t blame him.  I only hope he’s doing well, that he’s happy with his new mate.  Maybe someday, I’ll do the same.”  He stared into his mug.

“Letting Adam go saved this pack,” Pharrell said quietly.  “That was the proof that the omegas and betas needed that you’d changed, and had the strength to do the right thing.  The whole pack knew what it cost you, Blake, and they rallied behind you for it.  Now look around!  Most of the runaway betas have returned, the omegas are happy and taking on more responsibility in the pack, and the alphas are adjusting well.  Things have never been better.”

“He’s right,” Usher agreed.  “You claimed Adam at the end of the war, and letting him go made you a leader for peace.  If it wasn’t for the ferals, we’d practically be living in a utopia!”

“The ferals,” Blake growled.  “How can it be this long since they attacked, and we still don’t know what’s happening with them?”

“We know they’re being controlled,” Pharrell offered.  “There’s some kind of outside influence directing them.”

“We are missing something, I know it!” Blake complained.  He dug in his pocket and produced a small leather bag.  “Our scouts keep finding these things all over the feral’s old territory, and they’re all the same,” he went on, opening the bag.  “Same deerskin leather, and inside, the same collection of herbs and sticks and bits of fur and bone.  Near as we can tell, this is natural wolf, the fur and bone portion.  But why would the ferals have them?”

“You’ve been working on some theories, Pharrell,” Christina prompted.  “What do you think?”

Pharrell pinched his lips together, seeming to hide for a moment beneath the rim of his hat.  “I’m only making guesses based on known facts,” he began.  “It seems pretty obvious that the ferals are somehow being influenced by an outside source.”

“That makes sense,” Christina mused.  “They’re mindless animals, attacking anything that moves.  But then all the sudden, they’re working together as a pack?  And Blake, you said Adam told you that the first one that attacked him actually talked!”

“No way to know how much that really means, though,” Usher pointed out.  “It said two words, ‘omega’ and ‘mine,’ and both of those are pretty ingrained into any alpha.  Blake even says them when he berserks, and we know how mindless he is then!”

“True,” Blake said, not offended at all.  “But they never spoke before.  Maybe that one just wasn’t completely gone?”

“Or,” Pharrell theorized, “something’s changed them.  Something’s altered them, enhanced their wolf instincts even though that’s precisely what drove them insane, the lack of social interaction with other wolves.  And it didn’t happen gradually, or only to individual ferals, because now the entire population has migrated west.  No, everything seems to be pointing to some kind of outside control.”  He indicated Blake’s bundle.  “Those things seem to be connected somehow.  Christina, you said you sensed magic?”

“Hmm.”  Christina poked at the contents of the bundle with a manicured finger.  “You know my family carries the spell sniffer gene.  I never knew I had it because there aren’t any spellcasters anymore.  But yes.  I could feel something right away from this, and everything I know about my family trait is telling me that it’s magic.  But it’s weird magic.  It’s subtle, like…”  She pursed her lips, thinking.  “Honestly, my alpha senses it more than I do.  My inner wolf seems more attuned to it, and that doesn’t seem to be the usual case with spell sniffers.  I think it’s nature magic, guys.”

“Nature magic?  Vampire’s balls!” Blake swore.  “That’s crazy.  Have you looked around lately?  Nature got a good swift kick in the ass when the clouds turned to mushrooms and the land got poisoned.  It’s precisely how everything went to shit in the first place!  Any nature magic practitioners would have died off fast, wouldn’t they?”

“Not necessarily,” Pharrell said slowly.  “Bear with me, I think I’m on to something, but I don’t have it yet.  Keep talking.”

“Alright,” Usher said.  “Let’s go with nature magic, simply because we don’t have a better explanation.  Nature magic could explain why the ferals changed, started acting more like natural wolves.  It might even have allowed someone to control a large group of them enough to send them at us.  But nature magic that made them act like wolves would only go so far.”

“Ooo, but that’s another thing!” Christina exclaimed.  “That would explain why so many got together and attacked us at once, but they didn’t work together once they were inside the city!  Natural wolves might be taught to attack, but you can’t teach strategy to an animal.  And maybe that’s why there haven’t been any more attacks, and why they all went west?  Someone who established himself as Pack Alpha of the ferals could take them all in the same direction.  The problem would be, again, the finer points of control.  Whoever’s behind this missed their chance.  Now the pack is strong again, we could fight off another attack like the last one.”

“But what if it isn’t like the last one?” Blake asked.  “What if the reason they haven’t attacked yet is because whoever is behind them is getting more control?”

Pharrell suddenly pounded his clenched fist on the table.  “Dammit!  There’s something I’m missing, some piece of the puzzle I’m not seeing.  But I can tell you one thing.  Whoever is controlling the ferals belonged to the western pack.”  He held up his hands, asking for patience when all three began asking questions at once.  “Think about it.  Someone hates this pack enough to be desperate enough to utilize the ferals to try to wipe us out, even though he or she clearly didn’t have enough control over the ferals to really make them into an army.  But now the ferals are all gone, and where did they go?  West.  Also, if you think about nature magic being involved, why did we attack the western pack in the first place?  Because their lands are the most fertile!  And that has been the case the whole way through, hasn’t it, even during the worst of the human war?  The west was where the weres really became the dominant species, and we gradually spread east as the lands improved.  That improvement only went west to east, even though some areas got hit harder than others by the poison rain, and the movement of weres followed that pattern.  The only reason we came back was because of the drought and famine, and where did we go?  West, because the good lands receded backwards, east to west.  Think about it, and you’ll see it doesn’t make sense.  The western farmlands have been used more and for longer than ours in the east, yet ours got exhausted while those are still fertile.  But the poison rain fell just as hard on the western lands as it did everywhere else.  So how could that be?  Do you think maybe we might be looking at nature magic after all?  Nature magic that originated in the west?”

“But Adam always said his pack was honorable,” Blake pointed out.  “Where’s the honor in hiding behind an army of slobbering ferals?”

“Honor doesn’t feed your family when your pack is broken and your territory is taken,” Usher pointed out.  “Desperation changes everything.  We’re all prime examples of that!  If they got desperate enough, and they had access to nature magic?  Well, we know what we were willing to do.”

“Damnation, I hate magic,” Blake complained.  “But it makes sense, I suppose, and explains why the western pack was so strong, why they were so hard to beat.  But if they find a way to fine tune their control over those damned ferals, we are going to be wiped out!  What the hell were they doing out west?”  He shook his head.  “I think it’s time we found out.  We need to talk to some western wolves.”

“I can have Sherry come talk to us?” Christina volunteered.  “She’s loyal to me, and I think she’d be willing to talk.”

“Patrick may be as well,” Pharrell offered.  “We can…”

“Pack Alpha!”  It was an out of breath beta that had just burst, unannounced, into the meeting hall.  “Come quick!  Two prisoners just surrendered to the border patrol, and you need to meet them!”

****

By the time Blake and his generals arrived, the square was flooded with betas.  They were lining up and jostling each other for position, all focused on a dark haired male beta who stood, surrounded, in the center of the square.  A second blonde beta in a deerskin shirt and pants, moccasins, and a coonskin cap was largely ignored except for some puzzled stares.  It looked like every beta in the pack was trying to shake the brunette’s hand, pat his shoulder, speak to him, or somehow be close to him, and the brunette looked wide-eyed and overwhelmed.

Muttering a litany of “excuse me, pardon me” Blake managed to force his way through.  When he approached the duo, the blonde tipped his hat back, looking up at Blake in surprise.  “Holy shit!  You’re a big son of a bitch, aren’t you?” he exclaimed.  His voice was low and rough, as if he were speaking through a mouthful of gravel.

“That’s Blake Shelton, the Pack Alpha,” the brunette explained.  He still looked shaken and overwhelmed.  Stepping in front of the blonde, he dropped to his knees and lowered his head.  “Pack Alpha, with respect, I humbly beg for a moment of your time.  We have…”

“Aw, get up,” Blake grumbled, pulling the brunette back to his feet.  “You don’t ever have to grovel, buddy.  If you need to speak to me, I’ll listen.  What’s your name?”

The brunette’s jaw dropped in shock, but the blonde belly laughed.  “Lassie was telling the truth, Fido!” he exclaimed, slapping the brunette on the back.  “What do you know?  Your name really did make an impact when we walked in here, and now the big bad wolf is treating you nice!  Name’s Sean Hampton, by the way.  Nice to meet you.”

Blake smiled.  “Nice to see a beta using a surname!  That’s a custom we’re just trying to reinstate here.  So Sean, Fido, why don’t you come with me and tell me what you have to say?”

“My name isn’t Fido, that’s just Sean being a dick!” the brunette protested.  “It’s Carson.  And I believe we have a mutual acquaintance?”

Chapter Text

Carson continued to be amazed at the change in attitude towards betas he kept encountering.  He was stunned when the Pack Alpha and his generals offered him and Sean a seat at their table, flabbergasted when Christina put a mug of beer in front of the two, and speechless when he learned that it was his story that had changed the way the entire pack viewed betas.  Sean was less impressed.  He’d taken his cap off and sat it on the table, sipped at his beer, made a face, and pushed it aside.  But he openly admired Christina.  Finally, he nudged Carson and indicated her.  “Please tell me that’s an omega or a beta?” he pleaded.

“General Aguilera?  She’s one of Pack Alpha Shelton’s generals!  She’s an alpha!”

“Fuck me!” Sean groaned.  He folded his arms on the table and dropped his head into them.  “Hottest thing I’ve seen in years, and it’s a chick with a dick.  I hate my life.  End it now!”

“Don’t tempt me,” Carson grumbled.

Christina’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.

Blake cleared his throat.  “Excuse me, Carson, but you said you needed to talk to me?  We’re all listening, and very interested in what you have to say.”

“Well, first I should probably explain something about Sean,” Carson began.  “Like I said, he’s a dick, but there’s nothing wrong with his sense of smell.  He’s just insensitive to werewolf pheromones, can’t distinguish between them at all.  That’s why he didn’t know General Aguilera’s gender.  It's because he’s not a beta.  He’s not even a werewolf!”

“Um, what’s that leave?” Blake wanted to know.

But Pharrell was staring wide-eyed at Sean.  “You’re human?  But they’re extinct!”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”  Sean sat up with a dramatic sigh.  “Fortunately for humans, you pooches all believe that, so when you encounter a human, you just assume it’s a beta because you don’t smell alpha or omega.  For example, there’s a big human colony in the west, north of the territory you just pissed all over.”

“The Dudes,” Carson explained.  “We’d always believed they were a colony of half-crazed betas.  They caused all sorts of trouble, especially when we really pressed into their territory, but we’d always been able to drive them off if they came after us.  They never really tried to fight us like wolves.  Sometimes they’d use these white metal spears, but usually they had better ways to make our lives difficult.”

“Nature magic!” Pharrell exclaimed.  “These Dudes, they practiced nature magic, didn’t they?”

Carson nodded.  “They would cause lightning storms, or animate trees, or send bears or other wild animals at our warriors, that sort of thing.  They were very good with nature magic, and utilized it pretty fiercely to defend their territory.”

“That they did,” Sean drawled.  “Except they never called themselves ‘Dudes.’  It’s Druids, and they’ve been practicing nature magic since practically the dawn of time.”

“Alright, hold it right there, please,” Usher called.  “Christina and Pharrell, you said your omegas would talk to us, if we asked them directly?  I think it’s time we did that.  We need to know how much we should have known, if any of us had thought to ask the western wolves!”

A moment later, Sherry and Patrick were escorted into the hall.  Patrick’s pale face was even paler as he greeted his alpha and went to a chair.  But Sherry was visibly frightened.  Christina soothed her with some quietly whispered words, got her to stop shivering, and kissed her fondly before directing her to a chair.

Sean watched the kiss between Christina and her omega with great interest, his face perfectly blank.  “I need some private time,” he announced.  Carson sighed loudly and slapped the back of his head.  Sean glared at him.

“Patrick and Sherry, thank you for coming,” Blake began.  “I want you to know that no one is angry at you.  You didn’t do anything wrong.  But we would very much appreciate an honest answer.  Do you know what might have been changing the ferals?”

“We didn’t know the ferals existed until they attacked us,” Patrick pointed out.  His voice was steady, although his face remained pale.  “I mean, we knew what happened to wolves who were away from a pack, but we didn’t know anything about the ones here.”

“I know what that is, though,” Sherry confessed.  She indicated the opened bundle still lying in front of Blake.  “That’s a spell focus.  The Dudes used them, back in our old home, to focus their nature magic.  Why?”

Pharrell groaned and buried his face in his hands.  Christina closed her eyes tightly.  Usher grimaced, and Blake sighed.  “So, if we had only thought to show one of these to any western wolf, we would have already known about the Dudes and their nature magic.  Fuck!”  He pounded his fist on the table, and Sherry let out a squeak and clung to Patrick.  “Sorry,” Blake apologized.  “Like I said, we’re not upset at you.  It’s our own fault for not fully utilizing our resources.  Usher, after we’re finished here, I want you to form a think tank to help us, and put these two on it.  I want eastern and western omegas and betas putting their heads together with us.  We were damned fools for not doing it earlier.  We completely ignored most of our available intel!”

Sean was chuckling for some reason, looking at Carson.  Carson looked stunned.  “Still haven’t processed it, huh, Fido?” Sean called.  “Lassie really did tell you the truth!”

Carson looked troubled.

“Wouldn’t Adam have known, though?” Christina dared.

“He would have,” Patrick agreed.  “Adam went up against the Dudes with his father and brothers any time they ventured too close to the city.  He knew exactly what they did.”

“And he told me,” Blake groaned.  He buried his face in his hands.  “He flat-out told me exactly what the ferals would do, how they would all gather in one place and attack at a pre-arranged signal.  And I didn’t get it!  I just assumed that he was talking wartime strategy.  I never even suspected nature magic, and he probably never thought I wasn’t aware.  The guy didn’t even understand why we didn’t have a heat suite!  Fucking culture clash and lack of communication could have cost us our entire pack!”

“To be fair?” Carson called.  “Adam hated magic.  All of the family did.  They thought it was dishonorable and that the Dudes should just fight like wolves.  But they didn’t know the Dudes had no other choice.  So Adam probably never thought about the nature magic simply because it pissed him off.”

“That does sound like him,” Blake grumbled.  “I still wish I’d followed up, asked him more about those Dudes.”

“We’re asking now,” Pharrell assured.  He turned back to their guests.  “What can any of you four tell us about the Dudes?”

“Druids,” Sean corrected.  “Well, compared to you pooches, they lead a primitive life.  They don’t utilize any of the old electric power plants, or wear clothing from the human factories like you all appear to be doing.  As you can see, they very much believe in utilizing natural resources.”  He indicated his deerskin clothing.  “Now, you may have noticed that those rabid lunatics in the woods have been acting a bit closer to the way real wolves act, the four legged variety?  Well, the Druids are the reason why.  Those bundles help them focus their spells, and in this case, that spell was to enhance the wolf nature inherent in your ferals.”

“You were right, Pharrell!” Christina exclaimed.

“I don’t get it,” Blake complained.  “How did humans survive the poison rain?  I thought it turned any survivors sterile!”

“Well, Ol’ Red, it’s like this,” Sean began.  “The Druids are big practitioners of natural magic.  When the asshole world leaders got into a pissing contest and decided to nuke the planet back into the stone age, the Druids gathered together in this big retreat they had out west and used their most potent magic to protect their territory.  It’s why the west stayed fertile when everything else was glowing green.  The problem was, the werewolves were quick to find it.  You’re far from the first Pack Alpha to lift his leg on that territory, Red.  It’s been a battleground for decades!  So the Druids had to fall back to a big valley in the north, the original site of their retreat.  And that’s where they stayed, the last group of humans left on the continent.”

“Why are you calling me Ol’ Red?” Blake wanted to know.

Sean shrugged.  “You kind of remind me of an Irish Setter I used to have.  Good dog, I miss him.  Take it as a compliment.”

“Wait, the Dudes are humans?” Patrick exclaimed.

“You missed that conversation, puppy, sorry, no reruns,” Sean said, shaking his finger at Patrick. 

Patrick cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Obviously, we didn’t realize they were humans,” Carson explained.  “We made the same mistake you made with Sean, thinking they were betas because they didn’t scent as alphas or omegas.”

“You’re human, too?” Sherry squeaked, looking at Sean.

“No!  Reruns!” Sean yelled.  “Although I might make an exception if you make out with General Aguilera again?  That was hot as hell!  Ow!”

Carson had slapped him in the back of the head again.  “Moving on?”

“Fine,” Sean grumbled, rubbing his head.  “Why don’t you two puppies tell Ol’ Red and the Canine Crew what you were doing to the Druids that caused all this trouble?”

“We weren’t doing anything!” Patrick protested.  “The Pack Alpha before our most recent one was pushing into their territory, sure, but he didn’t get anywhere.  Their guards had the white metal…”

“Silver,” Sean prompted.  “They used it to tip their spears.”

Patrick scowled at him.  “Anyway, it burned any wolf it touched, so they were hard to fight.  My father wondered how they’d managed to use it, but if they’re humans, I guess that makes sense.  Obviously, I wasn’t directly involved.  But there were a lot of warriors at our house at the end, wanting to buy me.  Father agreed to sell me to one of them, and they were all negotiating with him, you know, bidding for me.  The one who’d won me was coming to get me the day you attacked us, killed everyone, and took me away.”  The attractive omega swallowed hard.

“Take your time, Patrick,” Blake said softly as Pharrell looked at his mate in concern.

Patrick shook his head.  “I’m ok.  I’m happy where I am now.  It’s just a bit hard, thinking about it, you know?  Anyway, the thing is, the warriors and my father talked a lot of small talk before they got into the business end of things.  I listened, so I heard a lot.  They said the Dudes actually didn’t need to fight much.  They live in this valley, and there’s these huge vines and thorns that are pretty much impossible to get through.  Plus, if you do manage to get through far enough, well, the vines tended to fight back.  But if you got up into the mountains, you could look down and see how lush and fertile that valley was, so the warriors all agreed that we had to try!”

“Mostly, it was strikes against individual Dudes that were out of their valley,” Sherry added.  “And I heard my brother, he was one of the main warriors in the pack, talking real excited about how the pack had already gotten further into Dude territory than they’d done in generations.  He said the vines and thorns were receding.  We knew they had nature magic, but the going theory was that they were losing their power.  My brother thought it was just a matter of time before we’d be able to break through and claim the valley.”

“Ok, so we have a group of humans who are using nature magic being pressed by the native wolves,” Blake summarized.  “But apparently, they’ve decided to join forces, now that the Levine pack’s been overthrown.  That explains what made the initial changes in the ferals, and as Pharrell theorized before y’all came in, that would allow someone posing as their Pack Alpha enough control to send them against our city.  But now they’re all gone, and that leads us to the big question.  Is there a way that they can be controlled and turned into an army?”

“Normally, no, not with nature magic,” Sean replied.  “But that’s where I came in, Red.  See, I know a lot about them because I lived with the Druids longer than you pooches have been alive.  And that was the problem.  I got careless.”  He shrugged.  “Fact is, when the Arch Druid walked in on me, I was balls deep in his daughter.  He got offended.  But the truth was, those damned tree fuckers already had their suspicions.  Before the war, I always moved around every decade or so to keep things fresh and no one thought much of it.  But now that the humans were all crowded together into a limited space, well, it made it harder to not draw attention to myself as time went by.  So when the Arch Druid literally caught me with my pants down, he already had a talisman handy to deal with me.”  Sean pulled an odd necklace of woven vines out from under his shirt collar.  “All he had to do was toss it over my head and it was all over.  And that’s how he captured me.  Sucks, I know.”

“Wait, before the war?  Exactly how old are you?” Pharrell asked, confused.  “There isn’t a wolf alive who was born before the war, and I thought humans generally didn’t even live as long as werewolves!”

“You also thought they were extinct,” Usher pointed out.

“Point for Rin Tin Tin!” Sean cheered.  “But yes, Rover, you’re starting to figure it out.  You must be the brains here.”

“What’s so special about you, that this Arch Druid guy would want to capture you?” Christina wanted to know.

Sean looked injured.  “That hurts me right where I live.  Baby, if you spent one night with me, you’d never ask that question!  Whoa, Fido, you’re gonna give me a concussion!”

Carson had once again smacked Sean in the back of the head.  “Tell them the truth!  You’re right, Pharrell, humans don’t have lifespans that long.  But Sean isn’t entirely human.”

“Then what are you?” Blake asked.

“Oh, come on, you mutts are smart enough to figure it out!” Sean declared.  “Put it together, Rover, and make Ol’ Red proud of ya!”  He leaned forward, looking expectantly at Pharrell.  “Think.  If you want to control an army, and you don’t have enough control to make that happen with nature magic, then you need something with more juice.  Something that’s capable of controlling the minds of large numbers.  Now what do you suppose would have that kind of power, to charm a group of wild ferals?”

Pharrell’s eyes went wide.  “Vampire’s balls!” he yelled.

Sean tipped him a jaunty salute.  “At your service!”

Chapter Text

“Oh, come on now, that is really unnerving, I gotta tell ya!” Sean complained.  “Down, doggies!  Heel!”

Everyone except Carson had jumped up and gone lycan, with the omegas moving to their mates.  Carson raised his hands.  “Calm down, everyone.  Batbreath’s only half vampire.  He’s a complete dick, but he’s not a threat.  And right now, you really need his help.  I’m asking you to trust him.”

“Not with Sherry!” Christina snapped.  She turned to her mate.  “Baby, I want you to go back to the house and lock the door until I come home, ok?  I’m not letting this bloodsucker anywhere near you!”

Sherry sputtered.  “But Christina!”

“Now, Sherry!  I will not risk anything happening to you!”

“Patrick, go with Sherry, and stay there to protect her,” Pharrell ordered.  “We will deal with this thing!”

“Aww, isn’t that sweet?  Snoopy’s going to protect Fifi from the big bad vamp,” Sean grumbled.  “Go on home, you two, although you’re overreacting big time.  Clearly no one paid attention in class today.  Remember this?”  He indicated the vine necklace.  “The whole point of the Arch Druid putting it on me is because it suppresses my vamp nature!  How the hell do you think he captured me?  I still have my fangs and my senses, but otherwise I’m powerless.  That means I’m the only one here who’s in danger.  I’m surrounded by werewolves, for fuck’s sake!  Any one of you hairballs could kill me in five seconds flat!”  He waved a hand.  “But go ahead, be afraid, I don’t mind.”

Patrick looked unconvinced.  He gathered Sherry protectively under his arm.  She clung to him, and the two omegas quickly left, sparing anxious glances back towards their mates.

“He really is telling the truth,” Carson assured.

“And you really need my help if you want to survive what’s coming,” Sean added.  “Now sit!  Good dogs!”

“I told you he was a dick,” Carson sighed apologetically as the alphas bristled.  “I have heard every variation on every dog joke.  He spent half the trip here trying to get me to chase a stick!”

“You make a lousy retriever, Fido!  The one time you brought it back, you hit me with it!”

“You’re lucky I didn’t shove it up your ass, Batbreath, now apologize!”

“Fine, fine, I’m sorry.  Now Ol’ Red and the Canine Crew, do you think you could sit down and stop looking at me like a food source?”

The alphas sat down with obvious reluctance, eyeing the half vampire as they changed back to human forms.

“I should have guessed,” Pharrell grumbled.  “If humans are still around, then a vampire is certainly possible.  And he’s the other half of the puzzle.  Once natural magic brought out the wolf instincts of the ferals, it would take something like a vampire to really control them.”  He snarled at Sean.  “You blood sucking bastard, you’ve given those Druids an army!  We’ll be wiped out!”

All the cocky humor went out of Sean’s face.  “It wasn’t my choice, Rover,” he said.  “And it isn’t the Druids who have the army, not directly.  They just want to be left alone.  They’re not trying to wipe you out, they’re only trying to defend themselves!  So once the Arch Druid captured me, he saw an opportunity.  The Druids knew that the western pack had been wiped out by yours, but the last stragglers were up in the mountains and pushing hard into Druid territory.  And Fifi was right.  With the natural world nuked to shit and the Druids having to use most of their power just to keep themselves alive, they were getting progressively weaker.  The older, more powerful Druids were dying off, and the new ones couldn’t keep up.  You may have noticed that their influence has greatly decreased, or did the sudden failure of the rains and the crop lands in a progressive pattern from east to west escape your attention?”

The alphas went pale.  “You mean, the drought, the famine, this entire mess was caused because the Druids were getting weaker?” Blake exclaimed.

“You got it, Red,” Sean confirmed.  “The more they were pressed by the western werewolves, the worse it got.  They had to divide their energy between keeping their protection against radiation up and fighting off the neighbors.  Now that the western wolves have eased off, they seem to be recovering.  Who knows?  In time, they might even regain their strength.”

“That’s ironic, isn’t it?” Christina sighed.  “Our pack destroyed the western pack because we were trying to escape the drought and famine, and the drought and famine happened because the western pack was pressing the Druids!  But it’s getting better?”

“Because the Arch Druid made a deal with the current leader of what’s left of the western pack,” Carson explained.  “Sean, continue.”

“Well, like I said, the Druids were losing their power, and they didn’t have the strength to fend off your pack if you came through after the western wolves,” Sean said.  “So the Arch Druid decided to join forces with the westerns, trying to help fortify them so they could hold you off.  And I gotta tell ya, Red, it was a tough decision.  The Druid High Council argued about it for days.  No one likes that fucker in charge of the wolf pack over there.  The Druids were perfectly aware that the possibility of him turning on the Druids as soon as he finished with you was very high.  But the alternative…”  He frowned.  “Do you guys really have an army of berserkers?”

“Er, not exactly,” Blake mumbled.

“Damn, berserking werewolf, fuck me, I do not want to see that!”  Sean shivered, oblivious to the squirms of the alphas or Blake’s blush.  “Anyway, given the choice between a crazy dishonorable asshole and a berserker, the Druids eventually settled on the asshole.  They met with him under a banner of truce and worked out a peace treaty.  The end result was that the Druids would help him win against, well, you guys.  That’s why they gave him those spell focuses, and they modified the ferals into something that could be more easily controlled.  The original plan was that the westerns would use the ferals as a shield to protect the western lands.  But when the Arch Druid captured me, he had a new idea.  So they chained me up like a damned animal, delivered me to King Crazy and basically made a deal with the devil.”

“Question,” Usher called.  “Why are you here, Sean?  Revenge against the western Pack Alpha?”

“Partially,” Sean confessed.  “That bastard drained me, nearly killed me, and then had me tortured until I nearly lost my mind.  I have every reason to hate the fucker, enough that I’m willing to risk walking into a pack full of berserking werewolves.  But I recently learned a few things about this pack in general and Ol’ Red in particular that made me think maybe you’re not as bad as I thought.  You might even turn out to be half decent allies, and it’s been a while since I had those.  But yeah, I’d love to see your berserkers chow down on King Crazy, no doubt about that!”

“King Crazy?” Christina asked.

“The new Pack Alpha in the west is named Keith Delozier,” Carson explained.  “And he’s clearly spent too much time in isolation, because he insists that everyone calls him ‘King Keith’ and walks around in long flowing robes with a big crown.  I ended up becoming part of his pack quite unwillingly.  I still thought the Dudes were betas and was trying to get into their valley to join them when Keith’s patrols caught me, dragged me to their town, and forced me to fall in line with the rest of their betas.  I never would have joined otherwise.  King Keith, and pretty much every alpha in that pack, is completely without honor.  They’re the absolute worst of what my old pack had to offer, those who had been banished, deserters, and cowards who make themselves feel strong by pushing others down.”  Carson stood up as he talked, turned around and lifted his shirt, displaying the healing marks of a lash that crisscrossed the skin of his back.  “Life for anyone who isn’t an alpha is hell there, and King Keith rules over it all, him and his Regulators.  So when the Arch Druid presented him with a half vampire, wanting to make a deal to keep the wolves out of Druid territory, he never hesitated.”

“The Arch Druid gave me to that asshole and told him what I was,” Sean continued, giving Carson’s shoulder a fond squeeze as the beta replaced his shirt and sat back down.  “And then he pulled out these dusty old scrolls and told him how he could use me to control the ferals.  See, as a half vamp, I’m shit at charm spells against humans, or I would have been laid a hell of a lot more.  About all I can do with humans is make someone forget I just bit them.  But I’m damned good at charming animals, especially mammals!  Now werewolves are practically immune to my charm spells, because your minds are as complex as a human’s and like I said, I’m shit with humans.  But now that the feral werewolves had been reverted into something closer to natural wolves?”

“So you charmed the ferals, Sean?” Usher asked.

“I didn’t do shit!” Sean growled.  “I wouldn’t have even if they asked me, but the fact is, they didn’t ask.  It was those fucking dusty old scrolls!  You know what a blood gem is?  No?  Well Rinty, a blood gem is produced with blood magic.  It’s powerful, and dangerous, because life energy feeds it to make it work.  In a nutshell, you take a diamond about that big, which today you could find in the ruins of any jewelry store, and you soak it for several days in a constant stream of vampire blood while you cast the spells on those scrolls.  That channels the power of the vampire into the diamond and turns it ruby red.  Then you put in a drop of blood from the person who’s going to be controlling the gem, and viola, blood gem.  Now you have a vampiric talisman that can mimic certain vampire powers.  In this case, they gave it my ability to charm animals.”

“So this King Keith has a blood gem that lets him control the ferals?” Christina asked.

“You got it, babe!”

“Well, that’s not such a bad thing, then,” Blake declared.  “We could make one of our own, and…”

“Bad dog, Red!” Sean snapped.  “No treat!  Fido, tell them why that’s a bad idea, please?”

“It’s bad for several reasons,” Carson began.  “First, Keith nearly killed Sean to make his.  It took a massive amount of his blood, and to keep him alive long enough for the spells to take effect, the Druids gave over some human prisoners for Sean to drain.  As I doubt you can provide that, making another blood gem is probably out.”

“I’m only half vamp, so I don’t have the constant need to drink human blood that my father had, may he rot in hell,” Sean sighed.  “I generally only need to drink once or twice a month, and never enough to really hurt someone.  The rest of the time I get by on animals.  The fact is, I really don’t care for my vamp side, and I choose to live as much as possible as a human.  That means I never willingly kill another human.  That’s been the case for the last five hundred years I’ve been alive, pups.  I don’t even kill the animals I drain!  I’m a pacifist!  It’s precisely why I’m still alive, because I never gave anyone a reason to come after me.”

“But that son of a bitch – no offense, General Aguilera – damn near drained me dry!  For days, he kept me tied down to a table with tubes in my wrists, dripping my blood over that fucking diamond.  I was dying, so when he brought a victim to me, I had to drink.  I couldn’t stop myself.  And I couldn’t keep from draining them to death.  Even then, towards the end, I really thought I wasn’t going to pull through.”  Sean’s voice was light, but he’d grown pale.  “Even if you had human blood around, honestly, I don’t think I could survive someone draining me like that again.  And then Fido will miss me, won’t you Fido?”

Carson rolled his eyes.  “With every shot, Batbreath.  Moving on.  Reason two is that using a blood gem isn’t easy.  King Keith created the gem nearly two weeks ago, used the Pack Alpha spell the Druids gave him to bring the ferals over the mountain, and he’s been practicing with them on a daily basis.  But he’s only now gotten to the point where he’s gaining real control over the ferals.  And then there’s the price of using that magic.  It’s vampiric, and by nature, it feeds on life energy.  So he’s been feeding it by setting it into a manacle and locking it on his own wolves, usually betas.  He’s not stupid enough to let it kill anyone, at least not yet, but he had it on me for a few days, and I can tell you, it’s awful.  It felt like my strength was just being drained out of me, bit by bit, until I could barely move.”

“And that limits the time he can use the gem,” Sean added.  “The more he uses it, the faster it drains whoever it’s attached to.  And if he actually killed someone with it, well, the rest of the pack might get upset.  So he can only use the gem for short periods of time.  Doesn’t keep him from practicing every day, though.  But that’s the only thing holding him back.  He’s got so much control over the ferals right now that he can actually consciously direct them, and his influence expands to include larger numbers in thrall to him every day.  It’s only a matter of time before he sends not just a group, but an actual army of ferals after you, Red.”

“Ok,” Blake called.  “You have our attention.  Now tell us what to do.”

“It’s simple,” Sean explained.  “Free me.  Get this damned thing off of me, and I can shatter that fucking gem.  Then it’s who let the dogs out, who!  Who!  Who!  Who who!”  Sean, for some reason, sang the last part.  “I can scatter the ferals to the winds.  Then you charge in there and let your berserkers neuter King Crazy.  Then we all go and make peace with the Druids, and it’s a wonderful world!”

“A wonderful world where you just happen to have sole control over an entire army of ferals,” Pharrell pointed out.  “Carson, do you really think we can trust this guy?”

“I trust him,” Carson said.  “But I’m not the best judge of character, something I found out recently.  The thing is, someone you do trust trusted Sean, too.”  He looked at Blake.  “Pack Alpha Shelton, there’s something you should know.  Back in my old pack, my omega brother trained with all the best warriors.  It’s how he learned to fight.  But he had a problem.  When he presented, our father was inundated with offers to buy him, but Pack Alpha Levine insisted it be Adam’s choice.  And all Adam was interested in was learning to fight.  To that end, he went from trainer to trainer, and inevitably, they all believed that he would allow them to claim him.  But the first time they pressed the issue, or if Adam felt that he’d learned all he could, he would move on to a new trainer.  My brother had a string of jilted warrior trainers at the door, arguing with the Pack Alpha, but they usually gave up once they got nowhere.”

“There were some, though, that didn’t give up so easily, and Keith was one of those.  Keith came closer than any other alpha in the pack to claiming my brother.  He was the best fighter in the pack, and Adam was smitten with him.  But when my brother found out he was cheating to win his fights using weapons he hid in gloves disguised as his hands in lycan form?  Adam walked away in disgust.  Keith didn’t take it well.  He had already been in arrangements with the Pack Alpha, had already started transferring assets to buy Adam, and had already planned a huge claiming ceremony.  Then Adam left him and spread the word that he had no honor, and Keith’s entire world collapsed.  He lost Adam, his respect, his place in the pack, everything.  And he became obsessed.  He hounded the Pack Alpha to sell Adam to him anyway, followed my brother wherever he went, tried to break into his room at night…”

Blake couldn’t stop the low growl that rose in his throat.  He blushed and shook his head.  “Sorry.  It’s just that Adam was my true mate, and even though he broke our bond…?  Never mind.  Go on.”

“Anyway, that’s the only thing that was on Adam’s mind when I came to him for help for Susanna.  And despite my own situation, it seems Adam was right to be concerned.  Because the very next day, Keith waited for my brother and kidnapped him, dragged him out of the city, and tried to force himself on him.”

Blake snarled again.  He got up and paced a bit, trying to calm himself.  “I’m ok,” he called to the anxious generals.  “My alpha is a little wild, but I know how that story turned out.  How badly did Adam hurt that piece of shit?”

“Nearly killed him,” Carson reported.  “Fucker ended up crawling home only to find the Pack Alpha and his alpha sons waiting.  The three of them bounced Keith out of the pack lands, and that was the last anyone saw of him.  Until now.  Keith somehow managed to convince some other wolves to follow him, and formed his own mini pack.  It grew much larger with the war, because deserters and then refugees joined up.”  He grimaced.  “Like I said, it’s not a good pack.  There’s no honor, the alphas rule with an iron fist, and King Keith is flat out insane.  But even knowing that, I was still surprised by what happened when his guards captured my brother and brought him before Keith.”

Blake returned to his chair, his eyes bright with worry.  “Tell me.”

“Keith knew in advance that my brother was being brought in, and he was so crazy that he was convinced Adam would be his ‘Queen,’ and rule at his side.”  Carson made air quotes.  “So he had his Regulators dress in ceremonial garb and form this honor guard along an aisle strewn with rose petals.  Then he put on his best regal robes, polished his crown, and had Adam brought in.”  He paused.  “Of course, my brother recognized him right away.  I’m sure you can imagine his reaction when King Crazy came down from his throne and announced he was claiming Adam as his Queen.”

“Oh, we know,” Pharrell sighed.

“We have the scars to prove it,” Christina grumbled, rubbing at her calf.

“The thing was, Adam was already claimed,” Carson continued.  “And he refused to let King Crazy touch him.  That drove Keith even more nuts than usual.  He ordered Adam to submit to him, Adam responded predictably, and then it just became a battle of wills, because rather than try to force him, Keith was determined to break Adam.  He wanted Adam humbled, just like he’d humbled Keith.  So Keith decided to make him submit right from the start.  So that’s what he did.  The first thing Keith tried was locking the blood gem onto Adam, hoping it would weaken him and force him to submit.  But after three days, Adam could barely stand and still refused.”

“Good luck getting that one to submit,” Usher commented.  “We can attest to the folly of trying to force Adam Levine to bow to anyone.”

“That’s something King Crazy found out quickly,” Carson confirmed.  “So my brother spent a lot of time in the dungeon…”

“…Where he met me!” Sean said.  “Lassie’s a pretty good girl for a guy.”

“Don’t call him that,” Blake warned.  He was rubbing at the faint scar on his neck, his face set into a frown.  “His name is Adam, not Lassie!”

“Relax, Red, it’s a compliment.  She was a very pretty girl.  Anyway, Lassie wasn’t happy with what King Crazy was doing to me.  We got to talking, and Fido here was assigned the job of feeding me, so the three of us all got to know each other.  We exchanged information and Lassie came up with a plan to escape.”

“I did kind of wonder,” Usher said.  “Carson, you’ve got plenty of reason to hate Adam, but you refer to him as ‘my brother,’ and there’s affection behind it.  Things are different between you now, aren’t they?”

“Not at first,” Carson confessed.  “I originally only saw my brother as a means to an end.  I knew that, even if I got them out of the dungeon, Batbreath still had that talisman and I couldn’t break the thing.  And I’m no fighter!  I knew we’d need Adam’s fighting skills to get out.  So I got Adam’s door unlocked, and he took care of the guards while I freed Sean.  Then I led them out, and my brother dealt with anyone who tried to stop us.”

“That Lassie’s a real pit bull!” Sean told Blake.  “Hell of a fighter.  Pounded his way through every mutt stupid enough to try to stop us.  In no time at all, we were outside.”  He suddenly grew serious.  “That was when we found about a hundred enthralled ferals waiting for us.”

“We were dead,” Carson said softly, avoiding Blake’s eyes.  “Keith came out and ordered the ferals to tear me apart and drag Adam and Sean back to the dungeon.  And in truth, I was ready to die.  But Adam never hesitated.”  His voice was so soft it was almost a whisper.  “I said such terrible things to my brother, and meant them.  But when Keith threatened me, Adam went right up to Keith, dropped to his knees, and presented his neck.  First time I ever saw him kneel to an alpha, and he did it for me.  For me!”  He swallowed hard.  “And he took it further.  Adam promised Keith that he would submit to him and be Keith’s mate if he let Sean and me go.  Keith agreed.  And the last I saw of my brother as Sean and I ran out, Keith was claiming him.”

Blake stood up and hurled a nearby vase into a wall, where it smashed into pieces.  “He didn’t break our bond because he wanted to,” he groaned.  “He did it because he was forced!  Fuck me, I never even considered that!  I just thought, after what I’d done?”

“Easy, big guy.”  Sean’s scratchy voice was surprisingly gentle.  “You couldn’t have known, but Lassie obviously didn’t want to do it.  He knew we’d go straight to you, so he took a chance.  But it hurt him, bad.”

Carson frowned.  “What do you mean?”

Sean grimaced.  “I didn’t want to tell you, kid, because I knew you were overwhelmed that your brother surrendered for you.  But I heard him cry out, so I looked back as we were heading out.  It looked like Lassie was passed out cold.  That isn’t normal with a claiming, is it?”

Blake sucked in his breath.  “Adam’s omega rejected the new claim!”

Sean cocked an eyebrow, noting the frightened expressions on all the werewolves.  “And that means?”

“It means Keith’s bite is like poison!” Christina exclaimed.  “It means that unless Blake reclaims him soon, Adam is going to die!  Blake, I volunteer to lead a mission to rescue Adam and bring him back, and shove that blood gem right up that dishonorable motherfucker’s royal ass!”

“I’ll go too,” Pharrell called.

“And me!” Usher added.

“And me.”  It was Carson, and everyone turned to look at him.  “He’s my brother, and I didn’t realize that it meant something to him until it was too late.  Now I’ll do whatever I can to get him back.  I know the territory, and I can get us into Keith’s castle.”

“And I know Druid territory, and how to get past the barriers,” Sean added.  “It’s really cool how you’re all so willing to go save Lassie, but you’re forgetting something.  There’s literally hundreds of slobbering savages all around that stupid town!  His Royal Douchebag sent them after us right after Lassie passed out.  Fido and I barely got out alive!  So unless you take care of them first, you stand no chance!”

“He’s right,” Pharrell agreed.  “The only way to really beat King Crazy and win this thing is to break the spell of the talisman on Sean so he can break the blood gem.  Sean, how do we do that?”

“Let me get a couple of you in to Druid territory, show you where the spell books are kept, and you can free me,” Sean offered.  “Then, if Red takes in his strike team at night, I’ll be at full power.  I’ll smash that gem into a million pieces, and send all those ferals howling home.  Then I’ll sit back, watch you guys rescue the fair man-maiden and tear that fucking ‘King’ limb from limb!  We’ll have some fun!”  He whooped.  “Come on, doggies!  Let’s kick some ass!”

Chapter Text

Adam quickly swallowed the analgesic tea, wincing at the bitter taste and the way it irritated his stomach.  He gagged, fighting with his stomach to prevent the tea from coming back up.  After a brief struggle, he succeeded.  That was a relief.  The tea wouldn’t do much more than take the edge off of his pain, but even that would be welcome.

Adam plopped heavily into the padded leather chair in front of the elaborate vanity and glanced at his reflection.  His eyes were dull, cheeks flushed with fever.  A dressing covered the claiming bite on his neck.  The wound continued to ooze, staining the dressing.  The callouses around his neck from the collar were starting to soften, but he had new reminders of his situation now.  The marks of fading bruises in various stages of healing dotted his face, the darkest beneath his right eye.  When had Keith hit him?  Was that last night, or yesterday morning?  He couldn’t remember.  The days were running together, one endless train of pain and misery.  His body ached, sickness and constant fatigue making his shoulders slump, making dark circles under his eyes even when they weren’t bruised.  He remembered being strong.  Being a warrior.  But that seemed another lifetime ago.  The sickening of his omega had taken away his strength, sapped at his will.  Now, it was all he could do to get out of bed in the morning.

He looked again in the mirror, seeing the flowing white silk shirt he wore.  It covered his back and his upper arms to the elbow, then the front of the shirt was split, wrapped around his waist and tied in the front, leaving a large portion of his chest exposed.  It set off the dark tattoos on his chest and lower arms.  Glancing down, he could see the tight black suede pants and leather boots he wore.  It disgusted him.  Adam knew what he looked like – a sex object, something meant only for a moment’s pleasure.  But honestly, wasn’t that exactly what he’d become?

Adam heard the door open, but he didn’t look up.  A moment later, Keith moved up behind him, slipped his arms around Adam’s shoulders, and kissed his cheek.  “You barely ate again.”

“Not hungry.”

“You’re losing weight.”

“My stomach’s upset again, Keith.  I would have just thrown it all back up,” Adam explained.  “It was all I could do to keep the tea down!”

Keith frowned at Adam in the mirror.  “I’ll let it go this time, Adam, but tomorrow, you will eat.  Do I make myself clear?”

Adam nodded, and Keith’s frown deepened.  Adam sighed.  “Yes, alpha.”

That earned Adam another kiss, this time on his lips.  Adam turned towards Keith, letting Keith’s tongue probe into his mouth, hoping that maybe Keith would be satisfied with this and leave him alone.

But the alpha showed no sign of leaving.  Keith drew back and was pinching his lips together as he looked at Adam’s reflection in the mirror.  “You shouldn’t upset me the way you do,” he declared.  He gently touched one of the bruises.  “Look at your pretty face!  This sickness is bad enough without the bruises, and you’re so pale and drawn!”

Adam didn’t respond.  He’d quickly learned that some things were better left unsaid.

The self-proclaimed King leaned forward over the back of the chair, crowding Adam to rub his hands on Adam’s arms and chest.  “You’re still beautiful,” he murmured.  “These clothes make you look absolutely delectable.  But you look even better without them.”  He scented Adam deeply.  “My lovely omega.  Mine, only mine!”

Again, Adam didn’t respond.  He remained as he was, head lowered and eyes closed as Keith scented him, carded his fingers through his hair, nuzzled his neck, kissed him.  He shuddered and hoped that Keith would mistake it for a fever chill.  Adam fully understood that Keith was aware of the way his touches made Adam’s skin crawl.  But that didn’t matter.  The fact that Adam’s omega completely rejected Keith’s claim and was in real danger of dying didn’t matter.  The bruises didn’t really matter either, except that they marred his appearance and his appearance was important to Keith.  Keith didn’t care that he’d hurt Adam.  The alpha didn’t care that Adam was so weak and sick now that he couldn’t have fought back if he’d tried.  Keith cared only that Adam had submitted to him.  That Adam had stopped fighting, allowed his touches and caresses, didn’t resist the use of his body.  That Adam was his.  But Adam knew he wasn’t anything more to Keith than a possession.  He was just a trophy that Keith liked to show off.  Keith liked to have him close.  He kept an arm around Adam’s waist while he met with his pack, or pulled Adam into his lap while he sat on his throne.  The alpha loved hearing others compliment him on his beautiful Queen.  But he chose not to see the resignation and pain in the omega’s eyes.  He ignored Adam’s complete lack of response to his touches or the way Adam flinched when he reached for him.  That would have indicated some level of caring on Keith’s part.  But Keith didn’t care.  He had what he wanted, and that was all that mattered.

Keith was nothing like Blake.

Blake.  The name seemed to resonate in Adam’s soul, and he felt his omega whimper in longing.  Adam didn’t regret his decision to run away once Blake had let him go.  After everything that had happened, Adam knew he needed space.  They both did, Adam to recover and sort out his feelings, and Blake to deal with the problems of his pack without distraction.  Besides, Adam believed that he had a responsibility.  The ferals had gone west, after all, and if there were any surviving members of his pack, Adam needed to make sure they were safe.  But even that first terrible night as he’d left Blake behind, Adam had known he would return.  Blake was his true mate.  Whatever happened, he would help Blake through it.  Together, they’d find a way to control the White Wolf so that it could never again hurt someone close to Blake.  And if the worst happened, and Blake’s pack rejected him, Adam would be there to help him pick up the pieces.  Because when Blake finally let him go, removed his collar and freed him at last, Adam had felt something that he’d never felt before.  And even as he’d gone off, leaving Blake behind, he’d realized the truth.

He’d fallen in love with Blake Shelton.

I’ll come back, Blake, and this time I’ll stay with you.  You won’t have to force me or lock me up.  I’ll stand at your side, willingly, and I’ll support you and fight with you instead of against you.  Give me some time to heal, and I’ll be yours, and you’ll be mine, just like it was at the heat camp.  And we’ll be together for as long as we live!  Just let me do this one last thing for my pack, Blake.  Let me see if anyone is alive.  Let me save them from the ferals.  Let me try to bring them to you, try to join our packs into one.  And then I’ll be able to let go.  I’ll be able to let my father’s pack rest in peace.  

It had sounded so simple in his head.  But the surviving members of his pack had joined together under the last person Adam would have expected.

Their reunion had been brief and violent.  It still amazed Adam that the “King” had instituted an honor guard and covered the aisle with rose petals, fully expecting that Adam would immediately agree to be claimed.  The alpha had been beyond upset when Adam had calmly shown off his claiming bite.  “I’ve already found my true mate.  Even if I was unclaimed, I’d never let a piece of shit like you claim me.  So fuck off, Keith!”

It had only gone downhill from there, Adam accusing Keith of being honorless, Keith trying to order Adam to submit to him, and Adam finally losing his temper and punching Keith back into his ridiculous throne, sending his absurd crown flying and his silly regal robes flapping in the breeze.

“I wouldn’t be yours before, Keith!” Adam yelled.  “I sure as hell won’t let you have me now!  You’re dishonorable!  You’re a disgrace!  And I want nothing at all to do with you!”  

That was when King Keith had ordered Adam thrown into the dungeon.

Adam was getting very tired of dungeons.

In retrospect, Adam could have kicked himself for not realizing the truth.  There was nothing left of his old pack.  Keith’s ragtag pack was made up of banished wolves and outcasts, buffered with deserters who had fled the White Wolf during the war.  The honor of Adam’s old pack was nowhere to be found here.  Any war refugees had been quickly subdued.  Omegas were few and far between, and all appeared utterly broken.  The one reason Adam had to be glad Keith had proclaimed him his Queen was that it meant only Keith touched him.  The other omegas here were rented out each night to the highest bidder by their mates.  And the betas had it even worse.  Beaten and abused, they were ground under an iron heel.

No, there was no honor here.

Then one of those betas turned out to be his brother Carson.  And through Carson, he’d come to understand the nature of the tortured, pitiful creature in the cell next to his.  Whatever hesitation Adam had about believing the thing was actually part vampire had been removed when Keith had locked the horrible blood gem onto Adam.  The gem had terrified Adam, draining more and more of his strength until he could do little more than lie, moaning, on the floor.  Fortunately, he’d still been able to give Keith the finger when the King asked if he was ready to submit.  Adam had been half afraid that Keith would let him die out of spite.  But thankfully, the King had removed the gem, and Adam had quickly recovered.  But the power and proof of the gem was undeniable, as was the suffering of the creature responsible for it.  Adam couldn’t help but hear the cries of pain from the creature in the other cell when Keith and his Regulators visited.  At first Adam had tried to defend the creature, yelling at Keith to leave it alone.  But that only made it worse, and the creature had finally begged Adam not to interfere.  Listening to it scream while Adam only leaned quietly against the wall was its own form of torture.

I’ve got to get out of here.  I need to warn Blake!  But I’m taking that vampire with me.  I can’t leave it here to suffer like this.  

Adam had formed his plan, speaking often with the creature and Carson.  The vampire, Sean, insisted on calling Adam “Lassie” for some reason, but had quickly agreed.  But Carson was much harder to persuade.

“I’ve given you no reason at all to trust me, Carson.  But while I was with Blake, I did everything I could to make things better for the betas.  And I did that for you!  You’re the last family I’ve got, Carson.  I’m not asking you to love me.  All I ask, just for a little while, is for you to trust me.”  

The smoldering anger in Carson’s blue eyes hadn’t faded.  “I’ll get you out, Levine, but only because I need you.  Once we’re free from Keith, I want nothing more to do with you!”

It had hurt Adam deeply.  Once more, he’d been reminded of just how badly he had failed this brother he’d never known.  And when they’d been trapped and Keith had threatened Carson, Adam hadn’t hesitated.

“Don’t kill him!  Let them go, Keith, both of them, and I swear I’ll be yours!  I’ll stop fighting, and I’ll be your mate, your Queen, whatever you want!  Just let them go!”  

Penance.

And when Keith eagerly sank his fangs into the gland at the base of Adam’s neck and the pain of rejection had been so excruciating that Adam had immediately passed out, well, that was penance, too.

Keith was crowding Adam again.  He’d pulled Adam’s chair out a bit and had come around front, undoing Adam’s shirt and sliding his hands up the omega’s abdomen.  Then, he reached up a hand, tore off the dressing on Adam’s neck, and sank his fangs into the gland.

Adam screamed through gritted teeth, doubling over in pain and shoving at Keith with all the feeble strength he had left.  “Stop!  Please stop!  It won’t work, Keith!  No matter how many times you bite me, it won’t work, and it hurts!”

Keith growled, grabbed Adam’s shoulders, and shoved him roughly back against the chair.  “I will claim you, Adam!  We’ll hear from the Dudes soon.  There’s got to be a way to make your omega accept my claim!”

He leaned forward towards Adam’s neck again, and Adam cried out, still trying to push him away.  “Stop biting me!  You’re killing me, Keith!  Every time you bite me, you just make it worse!  If I don’t get back to Blake…”

A sharp slap made Adam see stars for a moment, increasing the pain in his fevered head.  “Never mention that name again!” Keith was roaring.  “You agreed to submit to me, and you’re mine!”

“I know I’m yours!  I gave you my word, and I’m here, aren’t I?” Adam yelled.  “I let you use me, dress me like a damned whore, show me off to your pack and slap me around, don’t I?  Just please stop biting me!  I can’t help that my omega rejects you!  You can’t claim me, Keith, because I already found my true mate!”

Keith slapped him again.  Then he immediately dragged Adam out of the chair and into his arms.  “I’m so sorry, baby,” he crooned.  “It’s just the stress!  I can’t stand the thought of losing you, not after I just found you!”  He gave the omega a slow, deep kiss.  “I’m sorry.  I hope it doesn’t bruise.”

Adam had no doubt that it would bruise, but he wisely didn’t bring it up.  “Keith, don’t bite me anymore, please?  I’m so sick now that I can’t do much more than just sit or lie around!  Biting me again makes it worse!  You know that!”

“I know.  I just can’t help myself.  I have to claim you, Adam, have to!  Don’t worry.  We’ll find a way.”  Keith kissed him again.  Then he scooped Adam up and carried him bridal style to lay him down his bed.

“Wait!” Adam called, trying to get up.  “Please, Keith, I’m in a lot of pain and the fever’s back.  Please not tonight?”

“Shh, it’s ok,” Keith whispered.  He pushed the weak, sickened omega back down easily, climbing after him onto the bed.  He traced a finger down Adam’s abdomen and rested the palm of his hand over the omega’s womb.  “The Dudes will find a way to help your omega accept me.  Then, once you go into heat, we’ll work on pups.  I can’t wait!  You’ll be so beautiful pregnant, Adam!  Shhh,” he called, pushing Adam back down as he tried once again to get up.  “It will be ok.  Just lie back and relax now.  I’ll take care of you.”

Resigned, Adam closed his eyes, filling his mind with memories of Blake to block out the pain.  Carson would come through for him, and then Blake would come.  He just had to hang on a little longer.

But he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

Please, Blake!  Please get me out of here!  

Chapter Text

“So, as a female alpha, you’re, like, a hermaphrodite, right?” Sean was asking as he walked next to Christina.  “So you do have lady parts, right?  You think maybe you and I…?”

“I think I would emasculate you if you even thought of completing that sentence,” Christina announced.

“Damn, girl!  Can I at least watch you go all doggy style on Fifi?”

Sean suddenly found himself in the dirt.  “Ok, that’s a no,” he grunted, picking himself back up.  He reached back, shook the dirt out of his coonskin cap, and popped it back onto his head.

“Is that, like, a vampire trait?” Usher asked.  “Being a complete dick?”

“Nah, that’s just sweet lovable old me,” Sean announced.  “Hey Rin Tin Tin, how about I walk with you for a while?  I think General Aguilera may just be immune to my charms.”

“Hey, imagine that?” Usher said.  “Why is it that she’s the only one you actually call by her name?”

“She’s scary.  And she's way better looking than you, Rinty.  Although, I gotta admit, I mean, I’m not into guys, but damn, you got it going on, don’t you, Rinty?  Three omegas?”

“Right.”

Sean whistled.  “You’re some kind of player, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been called that,” Usher said, straight-faced.

“Any tips you can give me?”

“Don’t piss Christina off any more than you already have.”

Sean nodded.  “Sage advice.”

“Are we far from this hidden entrance?” Christina wanted to know.  “Because if this trip goes on much longer, one of us is going to end up in pieces.”

“I think I’m in love, Rinty, but I feel a bit insecure about my personal safety,” Sean told Usher.  “Do you think if I showed her the entrance to the Druid valley right now she might like me a bit more?”

The two generals stared at him.  The three of them had made the long journey over the mountains in just under two days, relying strongly on Sean’s knowledge of the terrain to avoid the ferals that surrounded the ramshackle excuse for a town the western wolves had erected.  They’d been hours trudging through thick scrabbly brush, following a wall of kudzu vine and heavy thorns.  Now they’d arrived at a large boulder that rose high above their heads.  Sean marched up to the boulder and presented it with a flourish.  “Ta da!  The Druid’s ultra secret mega magical entrance!”

“I don’t sense any magic at all about this boulder,” Christina complained.  “The vines and thorns, yes, but nothing from this boulder!”

“And that’s precisely the point.  If the entrance was magical, then you’d be able to find it easily, wouldn’t you?  So they went David Copperfield and used illusion instead.  They’re well aware that certain weres can detect magic.  So you were all about the vines and thorns, and ignored the real entrance.  Behold!”  Sean casually reached down and grasped a dead sapling that protruded from just under the edge of the boulder.

To the amazement of the two generals, the lower face of the boulder wrinkled and pulled back, moving as Sean pulled on the sapling.  On closer observation, it was revealed to be a heavy tarp, colored to exactly match the surrounding boulder, with the “sapling” attached to one corner to provide a way to move the tarp.  Behind the tarp was a narrow tunnel carved directly through the face of the boulder.

Christina and Usher exchanged a look.  “Well,” Usher said, “at least he got us this far.  Think you could let him live a little longer?”

“It depends entirely,” Christina announced, “on the next thing that comes out of his mouth.”

“Um,” Sean called, “ladies first?”

“You survive.”  Christina strutted into the tunnel, Usher chuckling behind her.  Sean let the tarp fall behind them, and soon, the three were standing at the entrance to a valley.

Sean was still amazed at how quickly the betas of Blake’s pack had worked together to fashion disguises for the two generals out of deerskin.  Usher wore a shirt and trousers identical to Sean’s, while Christina sported a dress that fell just below her knees.  Both wore moccasins.  The outfit she wore showed off Christina’s figure very well, something Sean had noticed immediately.  The half vampire had announced that they’d never pass close questioning, but at first glance, the two appeared to be Druids.

“And now comes the tricky part,” Sean sighed.  “Are you guys really sure this is the best way to go about it?  I mean, I could just try sneaking in?”

“And if you get caught, it’s all over,” Usher declared.  “Come on, Fang Gang, we all agreed this was the best plan.”

“Yeah, but that was before,” Sean protested, eyeing Usher as he shook out a length of rope.  “I really, really object to this plan now.”

Christina gazed flatly at him.  “Need me to hold you?”

“Yes, but probably not the way you’re likely offering.”  He sighed dejectedly.  “Ok, I surrender, let’s get this over with.”

Sean reluctantly held still, letting Usher tie his hands in front of him, leaving a length of rope to lead him by.

“I vote we gag him, too,” Christina called.  “That would make this trip so much better!”

“Um, maybe not,” Usher said cautiously.  “You ok, Sean?”

“No, no I am not,” Sean replied.  The half vampire had gone pale, and was visibly trembling.  “Just did not expect the memories this brought up.  I can’t stop thinking about what King Crazy did to me, once he had his blood gem.  How he tortured me.  He said he was going to break me, turn me into his slave.  And if I’d been there much longer, I think he’d have done it!”  He shuddered.  “Let me go, huh?  I don’t know if I can go through with this.”

Usher pinched his lips together.  “I get it, Sean.  I do.  But we have to do this.  Pharrell looked at every possible angle, and the only sure way we have to get into the Arch Druid’s house is if we play like we captured you and we’re turning you in.”

“Sean?” Christina called, suddenly concerned.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize you were going to get this upset.  But we’re not going to let anything happen to you, ok?  We’ll get in, get what we need, and then we’ll get you out.”

“I know.”  Sean took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “Ok.  I’ll manage.  Let’s just please get going, ok?”

The two werewolves exchanged a look, and then started walking, leading a miserable Sean behind them.  Both of them were wondering how much of Sean’s over the top bravado was a mask for the frightened creature they were seeing now?  It was difficult to connect anything about Sean with the fearful tales they’d both heard about vampires.  But now, as he stumbled along behind them, Sean appeared so frightened and vulnerable that it was even difficult to remember how annoying he normally was.

As they approached the outskirts of the Druid town, the trio soon began to attract attention.  Before long, a crowd of people had gathered, all following and pointing at the prisoner.  Sean’s woeful expression was certainly convincing.  There were a few jeers, but mostly the spectators congratulated Christina and Usher.  Others wondered loudly why “that stupid wolf” had let his prisoner escape?

“Don’t know, don’t care!” Christina called loudly.  “We just want to turn him over.  One side, please!”

The tiny alpha strutted boldly through the crowd, making anyone in her path move quickly out of the way.  Usher chuckled softly.  Some things his fellow general would never be able to disguise.

Sean had given them good directions.  Word had clearly spread ahead of them, and the Arch Druid himself was waiting to greet them outside of his home.  He wore long flowing brown deerskin robes with a hood, and in one hand, he carried a gnarled tree limb he appeared to be utilizing as a staff.  His bright blue eyes narrowed at the sight of Sean.  “You again,” he growled.  “I knew I couldn’t trust that werewolf!  No matter.  Thank you, my children.  What are your names?”

“I’m Rinty, and this is Christy,” Usher said, wondering again why he’d agreed to use the irritating nickname the vampire had called him.  “We’re from the northeast section.  We were out hunting when we stumbled across this creature.”

“I told Rinty right away that we needed to bring him to you,” Christina added.  Her blue eyes had gone completely free of thought as she batted her lashes at the Arch Druid.  She looked like the most guileless, smitten young omega Usher had ever seen.  “We knew that, in your great wisdom, you would know what to do, Arch Druid.”

The Arch Druid was an old man with gray hair and a short graying beard.  But he was clearly not too old to be immune to the charms of a lovely woman.  The human straightened his back and thrust out his chest.  “Well!  You certainly did the right thing, Christy, Rinty.”

“I know!  Won’t you please take him off our hands?  I’ll feel so much safer knowing he’s under your control.”

Usher thought Christina was laying it on a bit thick, but amazingly, it worked.  The Arch Druid drew himself up to his full height and put on his most menacing expression as he looked at Sean.  “Foul creature!” he thundered.  “Unnatural abomination!”

“Uh oh!  That’s, like, a five syllable word!  You’re really pissed, aren’t you?” Sean groaned.  “Look, Gramps, I already said I was sorry about your daughter.  She’s a lovely girl, it was completely consensual, and she kind of is an adult and can make her own decisions, you know?”

The Arch Druid scowled.  “I will take this monster off of your hands, Rinty.  You and your… wife?”

“We’re just friends,” Usher assured.

That brought a smile to the man’s lips.  “The two of you will be my guests at supper tonight.  I insist.  You must allow me, indeed the entire valley, to thank you!  And then, after we feast, we will see to the disposal of this monster.”

“Disposal?” Sean squeaked.  His face had gone even paler than before.  “Come on, Gramps, I really don’t like the sound of that!  Hey!  Don’t do that!”

The Arch Druid, surprisingly strong, jerked on Sean’s rope, sending the half vampire stumbling forward.  He dragged Sean out into the center of the collection of houses, raised his staff, and began to chant.  Immediately, the ground in a circle around Sean began to shift, the earth breaking open to reveal green sprigs that rapidly grew into thick, heavy thorns.  The thorns continued to grow, arcing up over the head of the anxious half vampire.  When the spell was finished, Sean found himself standing in a small cage made of thorns.  “Hey!” he called.  “If you’re going to leave me in here, do you think you could at least untie me?  Also, I really have to piss.  How about you let me out, give me a little privacy?  No?  You’re just gonna go and walk away from me, huh?  Right, ok.  I’ll just stay here, then, I guess…”

The Arch Druid had granted his prisoner not a moment of his attention once he’d finished his spell.  Instead, he went straight to Christina and offered his arm.  She smiled and took it.  He smiled back, and turned to Usher.  “The two of you are welcome in my home while supper is prepared.  Rest, refresh yourselves, and I will send for you when it is time.”

Usher bowed.  “Thank you, Arch Druid.”

“Yes, thank you!” Christina beamed at him, and the old man blushed.

****

“Sean said it would be in a chest,” Usher recalled.  “And it should absolutely reek of magic.”

“Do you have any idea how much in this house reeks of magic?” Christina complained.  “I feel like I’ve got ants in my spine!  How are we going to recognize this spell book when every book here appears to be a spell book?  It’s not a needle in a haystack, it’s another piece of straw!”

Usher looked around anxiously.  “There are books all through these shelves.  Are they magic?”

Christina brushed her hand over them.  “Most of them, yes.  But Sean said a chest?”

“Is he sure, though?  I mean, did he ever actually see this guy take it from a chest?  Besides, there are six chests here, and they all look locked!”

“Well we can’t drag all six out or bring him this entire library!” Christina complained, throwing up her hands in disgust.  “We need to find this spell book, bring it to Sean so he can find the right spell, and then I gotta cast it.  And frankly, that is the part that worries me.  You know I’m not a magic user, right?  I can sense magic, not use it!  How am I supposed to cast this spell once we find it?”

“Sean says that if you can sense magic, you can use it, and Pharrell agrees,” Usher assured.  “Let Sean walk you through it, Christina.  I know you can do it!”

“Ok, ok, I said I’d try and I will,” Christina grumbled.  “But first we have to find this stupid book!”  She looked around again, glaring at the abundance of books on the shelves, and stomped one tiny foot.  “That’s it!  We’re wasting our time looking.  I’m going to just go and ask him.”

“You’re going to what?”

But the tiny alpha was already through the door, searching for the Arch Druid.  When she found him speaking with a group of hooded druids, she gave him her most dazzling smile.  “Arch Druid!  So sorry to interrupt, but Rinty and I have a question for you.  Now, Rinty here thinks I’m crazy for just asking like this, but I’m dying to know!  Is there any way you could teach me the spell to make that talisman you used to capture the vampire?  It’s amazing!”

To Usher’s disbelief, the old man once again puffed out his chest.  “Of course!  I can sense a bit of magic about you, young Christy, and I’m glad to see you’re taking an interest in our magical studies.”

“Oh very much!”  Usher couldn’t imagine anyone sounding any more vapid and empty-headed than his fellow general did right now as she gazed adoringly at the Arch Druid.

The old man chuckled.  “I imagine you do,” he declared.  “The spell is in my most powerful spell book, but while I will certainly allow you to study it, I must ask that you do not attempt to cast any of the spells.  They are all protection and binding spells against monsters, werewolves, vampires, wendigoes, that sort of thing.  Of course, now a days, the only thing everyone is sure actually still exists is werewolves.  Until recently, vampires were a subject of debate.  But of course, after tonight, we’ll be able to happily call the foul leeches extinct once again.”

“What about werewolves?” Usher asked, looking interested.  “I don’t have any magic ability, so what does someone like me do against werewolves?”

“Silver, of course, is toxic to them, as I’m sure you know.  But there are also talismans that can be used by even the most novice Druid to suppress werewolf powers.  They work the same way as the vampire’s talisman, actually, blocking their powers so they cannot transform or access their werewolf strength.  Before you leave, I will be happy to supply you with some.”

“I’d like that very much.”  Usher bowed formally.  “Now about that spell book?”

“Yes, of course!”  The Arch Druid excused himself and moved back into the library.  He walked right up to the most elaborately decorated chest, took a key that was sitting directly on the shelf above it, and unlocked the chest.  Then he donned gloves, reached in, and pulled out a large book wrapped in white silk.  “This,” he began, unwrapping the book, “is one of our most precious belongings.  It contains binding, banishing, and exorcism spells, as well as spells for talismanic magic effective against monsters.  Young Christy, I entrust it to your care, and ask that you treat it with the reverence it deserves.  But before I do, I must take precautions.  You see, as a novice, it would be quite easy for you to inadvertently miscast a spell.  Therefore, for your safety, I must insist that you both wear these.”  Reaching into a pocket, he produced two necklaces made of reeds woven with orange flowers that seemed oddly familiar.  “These will protect you, should anything go wrong.  I know you’ll be careful, but I will take no chances.”

“You’re too kind!”  Christina quickly took the necklaces and ran her fingers over them, testing for magic.  “Odd, I don’t sense magic?”

“The magic will only activate should the need arise,” the old man explained.

“Thank you.”  She slipped hers on and handed Usher his.  Usher reluctantly put it over his head.  Something seemed off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.  This whole thing just seemed too easy.

Meanwhile, the Arch Druid had unwrapped the book and was pointing out the spell to Christina.  “This describes how to make the talisman the vampire wears,” he explained.  “In the basket to your right, you’ll find the components.  Please, take the basket and do try your hand.  It may not be a useful skill once we destroy the monster and vampires are no more, but it’s always good to practice.”

Christina dipped into a grateful curtsey, thanked him again, and picked up the basket.  “Since there’s only one vampire and it’s the only way to really know if I got it right, is it alright if I practice on him?  He’s safe, right?”

“He is.  Even if he managed to untie himself, the spell of the talisman he wears combined with the spell of the thorn cage makes him quite incapable of harming anyone.  You may do as you wish.  Tonight, we will simply pile firewood around his prison and light it, destroying the creature and ending the vampire menace forever.  The entire valley thanks the two of you for that!”

Christina beamed, leaned forward, and kissed the old man on the cheek.  He blushed like a much younger man as she headed out with Usher in tow.

Usher was shaking his head as they approached Sean’s prison.  “You,” he declared, “are ridiculous.”

“And I get the job done,” she retorted.  “It’s why you boys keep me around.  Sean, is this the book?”

Sean had managed to sit down in the thorny cage and was working at the ropes around his wrists with his teeth, trying to free himself.  He blinked in surprise and smiled.  “That’s it!  You really are amazing, you know that?”

“Of course!”  Checking around to be sure she wasn’t observed, she tilted the book, allowing Sean to see the spell.

“And that’s the spell!  Baby, I don’t care about interspecies relationships, I want you to marry me.  We’ll do the monster mash until you’re old and gray, and have wonderful threesomes with Fifi!”

Usher sighed loudly.  “Would you two please just hurry up?  Sean, they’re talking about burning you alive in that cage tonight!”

“Yeah, I kind of got that vibe already, that they were going to kill me.  Burned alive is so not the way I want to go.”

“It won’t happen,” Christina soothed.  “We will get you out.”

“Thanks.”  He swallowed hard, and managed to put his cocky smile back on again.  “Ok, General, step one is to relax.  Let yourself sense the magic, let it tingle up and down your spine.  Now you’re going to want to start drawing on it.”

Usher tuned them out.  His own spine was tingling, but it had nothing to do with magic.  Casually glancing around, he saw the twitch of a curtain in one house, the quick glance of a face peeking out of another.  The area where they stood was much like the square back in their own city.  Yet except for the three of them, it was completely deserted.  The entire city seemed unnaturally quiet.  It was as if the city was waiting, holding a collective breath, ready to pounce. 

Usher frowned, moving closer to Christina.  The female alpha was frowning as well, focusing on the spell and Sean’s instructions.  She’d gathered bits of vine in her hands from the basket and was working on weaving them together into a necklace.  “We still clear, Usher?”

“Yes, and no,” he reported.  “We’re definitely being watched.”

“Well, if they’re watching, they’ll see me working on making a talisman, just like they expect.  How do you pronounce this word, Sean?”

Usher went back to his vigil.  His necklace itched the back of his neck and he scratched irritably.  The orange flowers had an odd scent that he didn’t care for.  He could smell nothing else but the flowers.  His neck was tingling where the flowers touched, and the tingling seemed to be spreading.  His fingers, he realized, were tingling too, the sensation spreading up his hands and wrists.  Where he’d scratched at the back of his neck was going numb.  Usher studied the flowers.  They had a hooded look to them that was familiar, taught to every young werewolf as soon as he was old enough to learn.  If he didn’t know any better, Usher would think he was looking at one of the deadliest plants a werewolf could encounter.  But he’d never seen wolfsbane with orange flowers.  Still, the symptoms he was experiencing…

Alarmed, he looked over at Christina, seeing her scratching absently at the back of her neck as well.  Cursing, he grabbed his necklace, meaning to tear it off.  And just like that, his strength was gone.  He heard Christina gasp behind him as he fell to his knees, hands pulling ineffectively at the impossibly strong and heavy necklace.  Before his eyes, the flowers changed from orange to blue.  Wolfsbane!

“I must say, I’m a bit disappointed.  You really are a lovely girl.  But I suppose I can’t blame you for trying.  How often does a werewolf get to learn a spell against vampires?”

Sean let out a moan of dismay.  Christina staggered to her feet, going back to back with Usher as the air shimmered and Druids materialized all around them, dropping their cloak of invisibility.  Drawn spears tipped with ominous white metal surrounded them.  “What gave us away?” Usher called.

“Please!  It’s been years since one of your kind pierced the veil over the gateway, but we always knew it was possible.  You tripped a dozen silent alarms when you came in!  I only wanted to find out what it was you wanted.  I would have understood if your only reason for being here was to learn that spell, though.  But then, to hear such a beautiful young thing as you promise to help a vampire, Christy?  Such a shame!  I never thought I’d see the day that werewolves would join forces with a vampire!”  The Arch Druid indicated the flowers on their necklaces.  “I’m sure you know what these are, now that the color alteration has been dropped by the activation of the spell.  Now they will suppress your werewolf nature.  And as you seem to understand, Rinty, they are poisonous.  You may decide.  The poison will eventually kill you, or we can kill you now.”

“No!”  It was Sean.  His eyes were wet as he kicked at the thorny cage.  “Don’t kill them!  Come on, Gramps!  I’m five hundred years old and I guess I got it coming, but these kids are just trying to save their pack!

“As are we!” the Arch Druid snapped.  “Every year, our power wanes and our protection weakens.  Yet these beasts continue to press us!  You would render us extinct, and doom the natural world and yourselves to the ravages of radiation!”

“We didn’t know!” Usher yelled.  “We had no idea humans weren’t extinct!  We certainly didn’t know about Druids or nature magic!  We had no idea why the lands improved, they just did!”

“And you thought nothing of it?”

“What do you want, Gramps?” Sean yelled.  “Before the human war, the werewolves were just hiding on the outskirts of human society.  Any time they were discovered, hunters came to wipe them out.  At what point did they ever have an opportunity to really study nature magic?  The nuclear war was almost a godsend to them, and like it or not, they’re the dominant species now.  If you want to survive, you need to work with them, not kill them!”

“Enough!”  The Arch Druid raised his staff, and the earth around the two werewolves shifted ominously.

Moving fast, Christina and Usher darted out of the circle a moment before the tendrils rose.  The Arch Druid shook his head.  “This is pointless.  The vampire dies in flames tonight, but I will be merciful to you.  Surrender, and we will see to it that your death is quick and relatively painless.”

“No,” Christina said.

Usher looked back in surprise, and the old man’s jaw dropped.  “What did you say?”

“Did I stutter?” Christina snapped.  “I said no!”

Chapter Text

Blake, Pharrell, Carson and Patrick huddled together behind a section of thick brush on the mountain, looking down at the town just below.  Everywhere they looked, they saw ferals.  The filthy, mindless creatures were everywhere, wrestling and fighting over scraps, gnawing on various objects or each other, sleeping, or rutting in the open air.  The town was full of them, giving it a distinctly unpleasant odor that wrinkled the noses of the four watching wolves.

“That’s one hell of a lot of ferals,” Blake worried.  “There’s got to be close to four hundred at least!  Add that to what we fought through to get here and what’s likely all through these mountains, and it’s thousands!  If they all come after the city, we’re going to get swarmed under."  He shook his head.  "You were right that we needed a small strike team, rather than a large assault force, Pharrell.  But are we really going to walk right through that mess?”

“The lanterns will get us in,” Carson assured.  “After that, it’s up to Pharrell’s plan.”

“Getting in isn’t the part I’m worried about,” Pharrell confessed.  “The real problem will be getting Adam and getting out alive.  If anything goes wrong for Usher and Christina, or if Sean betrays us?”

“I trust Sean,” Carson said.  “He won’t let me down.  If Usher and Christina can get that talisman off of him, he’ll be here and that’s it for the blood gem, and with it, the ferals.”

“No point worrying about it now,” Blake declared.  “Once we’re in, we’re committed.  And I’m not leaving without Adam.  He’ll die if I don’t get to him, and I’ll die before I leave him in the hands of this motherfucker.  I’m going in.  If anyone wants to turn back, I won’t blame you or hold it against you.”

“At your side all the way, Blake,” Pharrell vowed.

“Same for me,” Carson agreed.  “I’ll do whatever it takes to save Adam.”

“I’m in as well,” Patrick said.

Both alphas hesitated, looking at each other.  Patrick bristled.  “I know Keith.  He was going to buy my sister before Adam came to him for training.  When Keith backed out of the deal, it really hurt our family financially, and I wasn’t quite old enough to sell.  So father blamed Janet and beat her, then sold her to the first alpha who made an offer.  And that bastard let her die in childbirth rather than pay for a midwife to help her!”  Patrick’s sapphire eyes were blazing in fury.  “At the time, I just accepted it as the way things were.  It took Adam’s example before I ever considered that what had happened to Janet was wrong.  I owe Keith for Janet, and I owe Adam for showing me that I don’t have to live like that just because I was born omega.”  He looked at his mate and his eyes softened.  “Pharrell, if you order me as my alpha to go, you know I’ll obey you.  But I’ll obey in protest and I may never forgive you for it.  I want to help, and you need me!”

Pharrell shook his head.  “I won’t order you.  I love you, Patrick, and I respect you and your decisions too much for that.  But I’m worried, baby.”  He gently cupped his mate’s cheek, concern evident in his eyes.  “You’re a good fighter with great instincts, and my best student.  But you’ve only just started learning to fight.  You’re still an amateur!  And these aren’t just minor alphas like the ones you’ve knocked around in the slums.  This time, we’ll be facing major alphas.  A lot of them are seasoned warriors!”

“And Keith was one of the best, even without cheating!” Patrick exclaimed.  “But you already said that the best chance we have of being accepted immediately by that pack is if you bring an omega, because Carson said omegas are scarce in their pack.  And any that you bring will be in danger.  You can’t take someone like Sherry into a situation like that, you need a fighter!  Our pack has two omegas that are capable of holding our own in a fight, not including Adam, and Andrea’s pregnant!  I’m a better fighter than she is anyway, and I’ve got the motivation.  You know I’m the best choice for this, Pharrell.”

“But what Carson said, about the way omegas are treated?  If I take you in there, they are going to expect me to let them…!”

“I can handle it,” Patrick declared, straightening his shoulders.  “I know they’ll want me, Pharrell, and I’ll deal with whatever comes.  But you need to bring me along.  Carson’s lanterns can get us through the ferals, but I’m your ticket through the gate and we all know it.  Even if the worst happens, I’ll handle it.  For Janet, and for Adam.  I’ll be alright, Pharrell.  And no matter what, you know I’ll always be yours, right?”

Pharrell pulled his mate into a tight embrace.  Blake swallowed hard and looked away.  “Your call, Pharrell,” he offered.

Pharrell shook his head, releasing Patrick and cupping the omega’s cheek with one hand.  “No.  This is what liberating the omegas really means.  It’s Patrick’s call, and he’s made it.  Alright, Patrick.  Just please, be careful!”

Patrick smiled, his eyes fierce.  “I will.  Ready, Carson?”

“Right!”  Carson got into his pack and distributed four bundles.  Stripping away the protective covering of straw and rags revealed delicate lanterns made of oiled green paper and thin wood.  “We’ll need to light these before we reach the road,” he instructed.  “The ferals in town aren’t directly controlled right now, but they know to let anyone carrying a lantern pass.”

“How do we know when they’re directly controlled?”

“Their eyes,” Carson explained.  “The blood gem glows red when it’s used, and anything being charmed will have glowing red eyes.  At that point, Keith has complete control over them.  Last time I was here, he had over two hundred of them marching in time.  But it appears he may have expanded his influence.  We need to end this.”

Blake nodded.  “Alright.  Let’s move out.”

The four wolves made their way down, lighting their lanterns when they came in sight of the road.

The ferals noticed them immediately.  Dozens milled around the newcomers, sniffing at the unfamiliar scents and growling low in their throats.  The lanterns cast a sickly green glow beneath the overcast sky, reflecting eerily in the eyes of the ferals.  Pharrell quickly reached for Patrick’s hand.  Carson was white faced.  When Blake moved closer and put his arm around him, the beta nearly jumped out of his skin.  But as Carson himself had predicted, none of the ferals attacked.  They moved around the four, parting in a wave that flowed around them and closed behind when Blake’s group passed through.  Stinking bodies crowded together around them, blocking the view of everyone except Blake.  Only the six foot five Pack Alpha could see over their heads.  But all he could see was more heads.  But for the road they traveled, they would have had difficulty finding the path towards the large building that was their destination.

As anticipated, the group was apprehended the instant they passed through the gate of the fence surrounding the compound.  Blake and Pharrell found themselves facing off against half a dozen hostile alphas.  “Carson!” one of them exclaimed, spotting the beta.  “Where the hell have you been?”

“He’s my beta,” Blake said.  “And I asked him that same question when he came back.  He told us about your pack, and how to get through those ferals.  We want to join up with you.”

“Nice omega,” another called.

“Thank you,” Pharrell said.  “Who’s the Pack Alpha?”

“King Keith will be along,” the second alpha replied, her eyes still on Patrick.  “I can get you an audience with him right away, in exchange for a night with your omega.  We share around here, if Carson didn’t tell you.  You can have his heat if you claimed him, but we got less than half a dozen omegas for forty alphas.  So if you want in to see the King, he’s the price of admission!”

Blake glanced at Patrick, uneasy.  As smitten as he was with Adam, Blake had paid little attention to Pharrell’s mate before now.  But he had to admit Patrick was breathtaking.  His pale skin was a stark contrast to his curly dark hair.  He had a slender form, high, well-defined cheekbones and full lips.  But it was his eyes that really made Patrick stand out.  Patrick’s eyes were like dark blue sapphires, framed by a thick, dark set of double eyelashes.  Right now, they were cast demurely down, playing the part of a well subdued omega.  Of course, that’s precisely what he’d been his entire life until recently.  In retrospect, Blake was ashamed of the way that Patrick and the other western omegas had been parceled out as spoils of war.  He knew Patrick didn’t profess to love his mate, even though Pharrell was head over heels for the omega.  But Patrick was obviously very fond of and respected Pharrell, and was a good mate for him.  Giving Patrick his independence and teaching him to fight had definitely positively altered the omega’s feelings for the general.  In time, Blake suspected Patrick would fall in love.  Already, Blake was seeing signs of deepening affection.

Meanwhile, Pharrell was rolling his eyes at the impertinent alpha.  “I want to talk to your King before anyone touches my property,” he declared.

Blake admired his acting ability.  If it had been Adam, Blake was fairly certain someone would be missing teeth by now.  It would have been a toss-up as to which one of them knocked the teeth out.

“King Keith will be interested in your omega for sure, especially now,” a third alpha said.  “C’mon, I’ll take you in, and we’ll discuss your prices for him later.”

“Hey!  I saw him first!” the second alpha objected.

“Wait in line, Donna!  That’s what you get for trying to lie your way into the man’s omega.  Gentlemen, follow me.”

“What’s so special about now, exactly?” Blake asked, trying to sound casual.  “Something wrong with your King’s mate?”

“You could say that.  Not really your business though, pal, unless you’ve got another hot omega somewhere?”

“Afraid not.  Name’s Red, by the way, and this is Rover,” Blake explained.  “The omega is Patrick, and I guess you know my beta, Carson.”

“I’m David.  I actually know Patrick, too.  I wanted to buy him when his father put him up for bids, but I knew I’d never be able to afford an omega like that, not with so many wealthy alphas bidding for him!”  He grinned at Pharrell.  “I can make it worth your while now, though, Rover.  Think we can work something out?”

“We’ll discuss it another time,” Pharrell replied, sounding bored.  “Since I do have an omega, is it my business, what’s going on with the King’s mate?”

“Only so far as King Keith may even want a taste of Patrick’s company himself.  That’s good news for you, Rover.  You have a chance to really make something for yourself.  That’s the hottest omega we’ve seen since our Queen, but Adam Levine is the one thing that the King hasn’t been willing to share.”

Blake couldn’t keep the relief off of his face.  Fortunately, the other alphas were too interested in Patrick to notice.  They commented openly about the omega’s appearance and made multiple offers to Pharrell.  Pharrell remained cool, calmly telling them again that he would discuss it after meeting with the King.

The four were directed into an elaborate throne room and instructed to wait.  It was all Blake could do to keep from laughing out loud.  An absurd golden throne stood at the end of a red carpeted aisle, and colorful silks bearing emblems hung on the walls.  Both the colors and the emblems clashed horribly.  Looking around the room was like going to war on his retinas.

And then King Keith himself entered the room.

The man wore long flowing robes of satin over pointed gold colored shoes.  A long velvet cape draped from his shoulders to drag on the floor, carrying with it a motley collection of sticks, thorns, and dirt.  A jeweled crown perched crookedly on his head.  He carried a basket filled with red roses over one arm, and in his other hand was a pair of gardening shears.  Apparently, he’d just come in from the garden.  “Daniel!” he was yelling.  “I need more roses!  Get me some brought in from…”  He paused, noting his guests.  “Oh, petitioners!  Welcome to my court.  You may bow.”

Blake blinked, and Carson jammed an elbow into his ribs.  Reluctantly, the big alpha bowed, the other three bowing with him.  “King Keith?  Thank you for seeing us.”

“Oh, no problem at all!  I do so love meeting new people, and, hello, who does this omega belong to?”

“He’s mine, King Keith,” Pharrell called.

The King waved a hand.  “No need to be so formal!  Just ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘Sire’ will do.”  The alpha moved forward, tossing his shears at a nearby beta, and took Patrick’s arm, drawing him several steps forward and away from the group.  He took the omega’s chin in his hand, lifting Patrick’s face and looking at his sapphire eyes.  “Exquisite!  A wonderful gift!”

“Uh, he’s my mate, Your Majesty,” Pharrell corrected.  “We’re looking to join your pack.”

Keith released Patrick and smiled.  “Oh, of course, you can join, welcome!  And thank you for bringing my beta back!”

“Carson’s my beta,” Blake explained.

“Mmm, not any more.  I’m afraid my personal attendant recently passed away, so I’ll take Carson.  That will be the price of your admission to the pack, Mr…?”

“Name’s Red,” Blake said, glancing at Carson.  Carson gave a slight nod of his head, and Blake set his jaw.  “Carson is a good and loyal servant.  He’ll serve you well.”

“I’ve no doubt.”  He took Carson by the arm and pulled him forward as well.  He shoved his basket of roses at the anxious beta.  Then he fumbled in the pocket of his robe.  He produced something that glowed an ominous red, which he quickly locked onto Carson’s wrist.

Blake stared wide-eyed at the glowing red gem set into the manacle that had just been attached to the beta’s wrist.  So this was the blood gem.  Seeing it in person, especially locked onto Carson, made Blake feel cold.  Carson was trembling as he looked at it.  “That’s it?” Blake asked cautiously.  “The vampiric talisman that controls the ferals?”

“Yes, but don’t get any ideas.  Anyone can feed it, but only I can control the gem.  Don’t worry, if you need some ferals for something, as long as it’s reasonable I’ll certainly have them assist.”  The King tapped Carson’s shoulder.  “You remember how this works?  You’ve fed the gem before.  What’s the most important thing?”

“Stay near you,” Carson mumbled through numb lips.  “No more than two hundred feet away at all times.”

“Very good.  Go up there and stand by the throne.  I want you to follow me up to my chambers in a moment.  There’s a large box up there.  You’ll pull the petals off of those roses and put them in the box.  I want that box filled, so I’m sure you’ll have to make a few more trips to the royal garden.  I already know I’m not going to have enough, so Daniel needs to get some more.  Now!”  He slipped his arm around Patrick’s waist and turned to Pharrell.  “Your name, good alpha?”

Pharrell’s face was set into a deep frown as he watched the king with his mate.  “Rover.  My mate is Patrick.”

“Rover!  Patrick will be your price of admission to the pack.  He belongs to me now.  Now, just a moment!” he called, holding up a hand as both Pharrell and Blake began to protest.  “I am well aware that you’ve claimed him and that he’s worth considerably more than Red’s beta.  I assure you, you will be well compensated.  Daniel!”

The alpha stepped forward.  “Yes, Sire?”

“See that Rover is given that blue house down the street, three full chests, and his pick for the night of the other omegas.”

“Um, Sire, you gave that house to Andrew last week, for finding your Queen?”

“Too bad for Andrew.  Move him out, move Rover in.  See to it.  Now, what did I forget?  Oh yes.  Guards!”

The alphas who had brought Blake and Usher in quickly surrounded them.  Patrick was paler than usual as the King still held him, and Carson was stiff in alarm.  “What’s this about?” Blake challenged, bristling.

“Sorry about this,” the King apologized.  “I just know this is hard, and I don’t want any mistakes made.  You see, I’m going to claim this omega, and Rover, I know that your instinct will be to attack me.  But if you do that, well, I’m afraid I’ll have both you and Red killed.  No offense.”

Pharrell’s eyes grew wide as he looked at Patrick, who looked back at him.  “I’m ok,” Patrick said softly.

“Of course you’re ok,” Keith said.  “That’s what omegas are for, after all, to be claimed!  I wish every omega understood that.  But this time, I will claim a mate, or I’ll have all four of you killed on the spot!”  He pointed at Patrick, releasing him.  “Now submit!”

Patrick looked again at Pharrell.  Then his eyes turned to Blake.  “Don’t let him do anything stupid?” he begged.

Blake grimaced and grabbed Pharrell in a bear hug.  The other alpha squirmed as Patrick knelt before the king and bent his head to the side, presenting his neck.  “Sorry about this,” the King called apologetically to Pharrell.  “I know it’s difficult.”  And then he sank his fangs into Patrick’s neck.

Pharrell let out a howl of pain and loss that broke Blake’s heart.  He held tight to his friend, using all his strength to keep the general from charging forward and reclaiming his mate.

Fortunately, the King had eyes only for Patrick.  The omega cried out when his bond was broken, but the new bond was already taking place.  Patrick blinked and instinctively leaned forward to scent his new mate even as Pharrell howled again.

King Keith pulled his mate to his feet and proudly wrapped an arm around the dazed, swaying omega’s waist, simultaneously supporting him and keeping him close.  “Finally!” he sighed, smiling.  “You have no idea how frustrating it has been for me!  Patrick, you are a balm that soothes an aching heart!”  He frowned.  “Oh dear, poor Rover really is very upset, isn’t he?  Red, please go with the guards, let them clean Andrew out of Rover’s new house, and get him settled in, would you?  Don’t worry, Rover, you’ll recover in time.  Once we wipe out the eastern pack, you’ll have your pick of the omegas.  For now, both of you, welcome to the pack!”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Blake managed through clenched teeth.  In his arms, Pharrell had sagged.  Blake pulled one of the general’s arms across his own shoulders and put his other arm around Pharrell, half-carrying him after the guards.  He briefly wondered just where it had all gone so wrong?  When they’d come in, everything seemed to be going according to plan.  But the unpredictable “King” had gone against all their expectations.  Now their group was divided in half, Patrick was claimed, Pharrell was wrecked, and Carson was wearing the blood gem.  And there seemed little that Blake could do about any of it.

Pharrell didn’t say a word.  A short time later, a surprised and upset alpha had been forcibly ejected from the house.  Blake helped his friend inside and onto the sofa, glared everyone else out, and moved to Pharrell.  “Pharrell?” he called.  “Talk to me, buddy!”

“He took him,” Pharrell whispered.  “He took my Patrick!  Blake, he took my mate away from me!”

“I know!” Blake exclaimed, clutching his friend’s hands.  “Believe me, I know!  Dammit, I never should have agreed to let him come along!”

Pharrell shook his head.  “Patrick’s choice.  But I’ve lost him, Blake!  He’s gone!  That crazy bastard took him away!”

“You did NOT lose him!  Pharrell, look at me.”  Blake waited until he had Pharrell’s attention and continued.  “This bastard is going down, even if I die doing it.  Because I will not sacrifice your mate to save my own, do you hear me?  We’re not leaving here without Carson, Adam, and Patrick, and I swear, that son of a bitch will pay for what he’s done!”

Pharrell gave a soft moan.  “It hurts so bad, Blake!”

“I know,” Blake soothed, pulling the smaller alpha into a hug.  “Believe me, I know.”

Pharrell took a few shaky breaths.  Then, to Blake’s amazement, the most resilient of his generals squirmed free.  “We don’t have any time to waste,” he declared.  “Let’s find the dungeons, see what it’s going to take to get Adam out if he’s there.”

Blake blinked.  “You sure, buddy?”

“I’m sure.  We stick to the plan.  We already know that there’s two places Adam would most likely be, and those two places are either the dungeon, or King Crazy’s chambers.  If he’s in the chambers, Patrick and Carson are heading there now.  So we need to check the dungeons.”

Blake shook his head.  “You’re amazing, Pharrell.”

“No, I just know what I need, and that’s something to occupy my mind.  Now let’s get moving.”

The two reached the dungeon in minutes.  Located below ground in the King’s building, it wasn’t difficult to find.  King Keith was apparently fond of directional signs.  The two alphas needed only to follow them.  The dungeons reeked, smelling of waste and fear and blood.  But at the moment, they were empty.

“Ok,” Pharrell said when they returned to the ground floor.  “That means he’s in the King’s chambers.  That puts Patrick, Adam, and Carson all in the same place, right along with that blood gem.  Good!  That means we won’t have to hunt for any of them.”

“Right.”  Blake studied his friend.  “What do we do now?”

“Unfortunately, all we can do now is wait.”  Pharrell indicated the setting sun.  “Once it’s dark, Sean will be at his full power.  That’s when we make our move.”

“Pharrell…”

Pharrell raised his hand.  “Don’t, Blake.  Just don’t.  We need to trust Patrick, Adam, and Carson, ok?  And if…”  He swallowed hard.  “You heard what he said, before we came down here.  Patrick was already prepared for what the alphas here might do to him, alright?  And he chose to take that risk.  If he can bear it to be done, then I can live with it happening.  Now let’s go for a walk.  We need to get a good idea of the lay of this town in general, this building in particular.  Even with the ferals out of the way, it’s going to be the five of us against forty alphas, and I don’t like those odds.  The more we can do to even them out, the better!”

****

Carson pretended to focus on his task, all the while his attention was fixed on Patrick.  On their way through the mountains, the young omega had protected Carson, fighting alongside the alphas any time they’d encountered ferals.  It was easy to think of Patrick as a warrior.  But in retrospect, Carson realized that if his father had offered Patrick to the alphas for bids right before their city was attacked, that meant Patrick had only just turned eighteen years old.  He was only a boy, with a slender, willowy frame and a tender vulnerability that belied his fighting skills.  Carson knew very little about bonding dynamics.  He understood that being claimed made an omega naturally inclined to submit to their alpha.  But Adam had been claimed, yet hadn’t been anywhere near submission.  His brother had been as fiery as ever, right up until he’d submitted to Keith to save Carson and Sean.

Of course, Patrick wasn’t Adam.  Adam was one of a kind, and while Patrick was strong beyond his years, he was still only a boy.

The blood gem glowed ominously on his wrist.  Already, Carson could feel the drain, but it was nothing he couldn’t ignore for now.  It would be worse, though, much worse, once Keith started using it.  Still, he knew he’d be alright.  From past experience, he had three days before he was in any real danger.  No point worrying about it now.  He continued to watch out of the corner of his eye, his hands busy separating roses from their petals and collecting the petals in another basket. 

The King had directed Patrick into a fancy leather chair in front of an elaborate vanity and was busy combing the tangles and bits of debris that had accumulated on their journey out of the omega’s dark curls.  “We’ll get you a proper bath soon,” the King was saying.  “I bet these curls shine when they’re clean, don’t they, baby?”  He stroked Patrick’s cheek.  “Beautiful, just beautiful.  And so submissive!  Certain others could learn a thing or two from you.”

Carson’s mind briefly went back to Adam.  Pharrell had theorized that Adam would be one of two places, either the dungeon, or in the King’s chambers.  He certainly wasn’t here in the chambers.  Apparently, Adam had done something that caused him to fall out of the King’s favor, landing him in the dungeon.  No surprise there.  It was a good thing, though, as Blake and Pharrell would be free to check it.

That is, once Pharrell recovered from his bond being broken.

Carson had no way to know, but he understood that having a bond broken was an extremely painful experience, both physically and emotionally, especially if any part of the pair wasn’t immediately reclaimed.  Pharrell must be in a lot of pain.  Carson felt pity for the alpha, but his immediate concern was Patrick.  He’d become quite fond of the boy, and the way Patrick was acting concerned him.  When an omega was claimed, when an alpha bit into their gland, hormones in the alpha’s saliva mixed with those in the gland.  At that point, the gland immediately dumped hormones into the omega’s bloodstream, all designed to gear the omega favorably towards his or her new mate.  The bond was physical, emotional, and, in a minor way, telepathic, creating an immediate connection between the alpha and omega.  Claiming an omega made them less resistant, more likely to submit, and more responsive sexually, as their wolf nature instinctively wanted to breed.  That last part worried the beta the most.  It was obvious that the King desired the young omega he’d just claimed, and Carson couldn’t imagine sitting here, quietly pulling the petals off of roses while King Crazy violated the slender boy.  But what could he do?  Carson kept to his work, watching and listening, and waited for his chance.

Patrick’s head was spinning.  The shock of having his bond broken and being claimed by another alpha was a jolt he hadn’t yet recovered from.  Hormones swam through his bloodstream, realigning emotional and mental pathways to orient towards his new alpha.  It was strange.  He could still feel the same thing he did prior to being reclaimed for Pharrell, but his omega reacted differently, drawing him to his new mate in response to the new bond.  That was what was making his head ache.  All Patrick wanted was to run to Pharrell and beg the alpha to reclaim him.  He vaguely remembered Pharrell howling, and feeling his own heart ache at the sound, but it was all a blur.  Now somehow, he was seated at a vanity, blinking at his own reflection while the crazy alpha who had just claimed him tended to his hair.  It was unreal.  “Where am I?” he asked.

“You’re in our chambers,” Keith helpfully supplied.  He wrapped his arms around Patrick’s neck and kissed the boy fondly.  “You’re my new Queen, and you will be at my side as I wipe out the eastern wolves and rule unchallenged.”

“Queen?”  There was something terribly wrong with that, and a soft noise from behind him caused Patrick’s eyes to fall on the reflection of Carson in the mirror.  The beta still had the glowing red gem locked to his wrist.  He’d frozen with a red rose in his hand, in the process of plucking the petals.  Carson’s face was pinched with worry, but somehow Patrick knew it wasn’t the blood gem that he was concerned about.  What was it?  Hard to think with the conflict in his mind.  Oh, yes, that was right.  “Where’s Adam Levine?  I thought you made him your Queen?”

“I tried, believe me I tried,” Keith sighed.  “I bit him, but his omega rejected me.  It’s a shame.  I’ve desired him for a long time.  He was so beautiful, and having the two of you would have been…!”  He sighed again, nuzzling against Patrick’s ear.  “But the truth is, Adam wasn’t half the omega you are, Patrick.  At first he was terribly impertinent, refusing to be claimed.  Then when he finally submitted, he was always sick, constantly asking me to leave him alone, and he never responded at all.  He was still beautiful, but having sex with him was like fucking a doll or something!  I mean, he’d just lie there!  Too bad, really.  But don’t you worry your pretty head about him.”  He licked the shell of Patrick’s ear.  “You’re the one I could bond with,” he explained softly, “so you’re the one I choose.  You are my Queen now.”

Patrick frowned.  “But where is he?”

“I told you not to worry about it.”  Keith was tugging on Patrick’s shirt.  “Let’s get you into something more suitable, shall we?  Adam’s clothes won’t fit you well.  You’re thinner than he was, but at least you’re about the same height.  They’ll do until I get more made for you.”

Patrick’s head was clearing rapidly as his heart began to pound in his chest.  “I want to know where Adam is!”

“And I’m ordering you to forget it!” Keith snapped waspishly.  “He’s nearby, but he’s not your concern.  You are my true Queen now, Patrick, and that is all you need to know.”  He licked at Patrick’s claiming bite.  “You’re so beautiful!  I can’t wait to show you off!  I have a meeting to get to and I’m taking you with me.  We don’t have time to get you a proper bath, but at least we can get you into some decent clothing.”  He moved to the wardrobe and selected some clothing.  “Here, put these on.”

Patrick caught the clothing that was tossed at him and reluctantly began to change.  It was the most ridiculous and impractical outfit Patrick had seen since the King’s robes.  The outfit consisted of a shirt and trousers in sapphire blue velvet, with a black leather belt and boots.  Of course, the colors would show off the color of his skin, hair, and especially his eyes.  That was likely why the lunatic had selected them.  But Patrick was acutely uncomfortable.  The sleeves of the shirt billowed out, too big for his shoulders, while the trousers clung to his slim hips and narrow legs.  The boots were a bit too large as well.  Clearly, this outfit had been designed with someone else’s sizes in mind.  He caught Carson’s eyes in the mirror again.  Carson looked as confused and worried as he felt.  If Adam was in the dungeon, why didn’t Keith just say so?

But the King was staring at Patrick again.  He’d gone still as he’d watched the omega dress.  But now he came forward and pulled Patrick into his arms.  “You know, when I first saw you, I spoke with your father about selling you,” he confessed.  “You’re much prettier than your sister was.  But you weren’t old enough to legally sell, and I couldn’t get your father to sell you under the table, so I was stuck with her.  I figured that buying her would give me a better shot at buying you when he put you up for bids, but I would have made her my second.  Honestly, though, it’s a good thing Adam came along when he did.  Despite what happened, I would have hated to have been saddled with that Janet!  She couldn’t even deliver pups properly!  What a waste.  But you?”  He nuzzled into Patrick’s neck, his fingers in the dark curls.  “I wouldn’t have turned down Adam for you, but I absolutely would have taken you for a second.  And I would have loved to have been selected to share any of your heats until you were old enough to buy and claim.  You always were a beauty, Patrick.”

Patrick felt pain and realized that he’d frozen in place and was clenching his fists so tightly that he was digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands.  Adam.  You need to keep it together until you find out where Adam is.  You can’t punch this piece of shit in the face until you do.  You can do this, Patrick!  Just get through this, let him dress you up and take you to this stupid meeting to show you off.  Let him get comfortable around you.  And that’s when you’ll have your chance.

Meanwhile, the King was momentarily distracted by Carson.  “Carson!” he snapped.  “Stop sitting there like a lump and get to work!  Do you not see how large that box is?  I want it filled completely to the top with rose petals, do you understand?  Get moving!”

Carson flinched and picked up his basket of petals, moving to the box.  The box was strange.  Made of dark mahogany, it was fitted with brass fixtures including caps on the corners and a set of long bars obviously meant to help transport it.  It was about two feet tall, two and a half feet wide and seven feet long.  Lengthwise, the bottom edge was flat, then the sides slanted smoothly up, widening until they reached the top, forming a long hexagonal shape.  The box rested on the floor along the wall near the doorway, taking up a significant amount of space in the room.  It was easily big enough for someone to lie down in.  In fact, it was shaped perfectly to accommodate feet and legs at the bottom and shoulders and head at the top.  Why anyone would want such a box, filled with rose petals or not, was beyond Carson.  The lid was split near the top, just below the point where the long slant joined with the head.  Carson pushed open the top portion now, revealing that the inside was lined with white satin.  He gathered up his basket of flower petals, ready to dump them inside.  And then he suddenly froze, his mouth open in shock and the blood draining from his face.

King Keith was again focused on Patrick, crowding him against the wall, trying to get the reluctant omega to respond to his kisses.  Neither the King nor his seething mate was prepared when Carson suddenly went full lycan and charged.  Carson tackled the surprised King, biting, scratching, hitting and punching for all he was worth.  “You bastard!” the beta screamed.  “How could you?  How could you?”

Patrick looked up, blinking in astonishment.  And then he looked over at the opened box, saw what had upset Carson, and understood.  Horror, pain, and disgust coiled in his stomach.  Shaking, Patrick turned to the King in time to see him throw the beta across the room.  Carson hit the wall hard, slid down, and immediately was back up again, trying to attack the King.  Furious, the King drew back his arm to slap the beta aside.

Patrick was full lycan in an instant.  He grabbed the King’s arm and pulled with all his strength, swinging the stunned alpha around and sending him sailing head first into the mirror of the vanity.  Pharrell’s lessons ran through his mind.  Follow up with your attacks.  Once you get your opponent off balance, unload as much as you can.  Don’t wait for them to get back up!  Patrick unleashed all the pent-up fury he felt for Janet, for Adam, for Carson, for his own humiliation, and most especially, for Pharrell’s howl of loss when their bond was broken.  He savaged the King, tearing through the absurd robes and relishing the shouts of surprise, anger and pain as the blood flowed.  Carson was back and largely underfoot, attacking with no skill at all but with just as much fury.

But it wasn’t enough.  With a roar, the King went full lycan and swatted Carson aside.  Then he went after Patrick.  With a sinking heart, Patrick quickly realized his skills weren’t nearly enough to match the powerful former warrior trainer.  The Pack Alpha turned King parried his blows easily even as he delivered strike after strike to the furious boy, driving Patrick back until he tripped and fell back against the bed.

The King was on him immediately, using his alpha strength to pin the struggling omega’s wrists.  “How dare you!” Keith snarled.  “I made you my Queen, and you attacked me?”

“Let me go, you son of a bitch!” Patrick yelled.  “What have you done?  What the fuck did you do to him?”  Despite his anger, Patrick couldn’t keep back his sobs as he writhed on the bed, trying to free himself.  To have come so far, only to fail now so close to the end?

“I see.  You’ve clearly been spending too much time in his company, and acquired some of his bad habits,” the King declared.  His eyes glinted dangerously.  “You need to learn a lesson in manners, just like he did!”  Pinning both of the boy’s slender wrists in one powerful hand, the alpha drew back his fist.  Patrick braced for the blow, defeat bitter in his mouth.  I’m sorry, Pharrell.  I’ve failed you!

And then Carson was there, rising up behind the king holding the leather chair from the vanity.  The beta brought it down with all his strength, smashing it over the would-be king’s head.

King Keith’s eyes rolled back.  He fell heavily against Patrick, who yelped and shoved the limp form away, quickly scrambling free.  Carson raised the shattered remains of the chair and brought it down again, and again, heedless of the splinters of wood that pierced his own hands or the fact that he was finally flailing away at the still form with only a piece of leather attached to two broken pieces of wood.

Patrick grabbed the beta in a bear hug and dragged him away.  “Carson!” he called.  “I know!  Believe me, I get it.  But we have got to tell Blake, Carson.  Blake has to know!  Ok?”

Carson’s body shook with sobs, but he was nodding.  He glanced over at the opened box and shuddered.  “Find Blake,” he hiccuped.  “F-find Blake, tell him.  Ok.”

“Ok!  What about that blood gem?  Can we get it off?”

Carson glanced at the gem locked to his wrist and shook his head.  “I never knew where he keeps the key, and we don’t have time to look.  I’ve got three days before I’ll be in trouble.  It’s fine where it is for now.  But he won’t let me go as long as I’m wearing it.  He has to keep me close to use it.”

“Alright.  Then we need to keep you away from him.  Job one, get out of here and find Blake.  Right?”

“Right.”

“Alright, we know they were going to check out the dungeons, so we’ll start there.”  Patrick half pulled and half carried the shattered beta, taking care to keep himself between Carson and the box as they passed.  Together, they made their way to the door and into the hallway.

Where two concerned major alphas wearing the odd uniforms of the King’s Regulators were heading towards the King’s chambers, alarmed by the sounds of fighting inside.

Carson wanted to tell Patrick not to fight, that it was over, that he should just surrender.  But even if he’d had the heart to say the words, he knew Patrick wouldn’t have listened.  To his credit, Patrick blackened the eye of one alpha and broke the nose of the other before he was dragged down and subdued.  Carson had done what he could, but of course he was no fighter.

And now, here came the battered figure of King Keith, rubbing his head and looking angry.  He reached back, touched the back of his head, and winced.  Then he glared at the blood present on his hand.  “Damn that beta!” he hissed.  “And Patrick, my treacherous Queen?  Oh, you are both going to pay!  But not nearly as much as those alphas who brought you to me.  Traitors!  Assassins!  But I digress.  Patrick, my dear, I was rather out of it for a bit there, thanks to Carson here, but I recovered quickly.  Quickly enough to hear you say that you needed to warn someone.  A very specific someone who was headed for the dungeons.”

Patrick’s pale face became stark white.

This was all the confirmation the King needed.  “My Regulators!  Bind them both, especially that damned beta, and then go get those two new alphas.  Meanwhile, I have a meeting to get to.  I’ll deal with them after.  Oh, and you’ve gotten dirt all over my mate’s outfit throwing him on the floor like that.  Unacceptable!  By my crown, what will people think?”  He frowned, looking around, oblivious to the cries and panicked pleas of the two prisoners.  “Where is my crown?  Ah, there it is.”

The bleeding king collected his crown.  Then he staggered his way over to the box and looked in, scowling.  “Not nearly enough rose petals.  Carson, you’re so incompetent!”  He picked up the basket of petals that Carson had dropped and carefully emptied it over the still, silent figure lying in the box.  “Still not enough.  I’ll have to get more betas on this task.  And Daniel had better come through on those roses, or there will be hell to pay!”  King Keith brushed off his dented crown, set it on his head and went back out.  “Now, Patrick my dear, where were we?”

Chapter Text

Blake and Pharrell stood close together in Pharrell’s house, leaning over a crudely-drawn map they’d constructed of the town.  Next to it was an equally crude blueprint of the King’s residence.

“Alright, the main building is here, but it looks like the bulk of the pack is concentrated here and here in the town,” Pharrell was saying.  “Do you think Sean will be able to use the ferals to block them from coming into the King’s building?”

“I don’t see why not,” Blake said, rubbing at the stubble on his chin.  “Sean’s going to have a lot more control than King Crazy would once he smashes that gem.  But that’s another thing I’ve been thinking about.  The gem’s on Carson, and the King said that Carson will have to stay close to him.  And he’s probably not going to let Patrick wander off, either, meaning he’ll keep the two of them with him.  But what about Adam?  Even if Adam agreed to submit and doesn’t put up a fight now that he knows I’m here, how’s King Crazy going to keep control over all three of them at once?”

“We may have to anticipate they’ll be restrained,” Pharrell theorized.  “We also need to consider what kind of shape Adam’s going to be in.  It’s been nearly a week now since his omega rejected the new bond.  He’s going to be very sick, Blake.  You know it’s rare, but my understanding is that most omegas who go through rejection only last about two weeks.”

“Adam’s not most omegas,” Blake said stubbornly.  “He’s strong.  I’d bet on him even after two weeks!  But we’re not going to put him through that.  We’re getting him out tonight, and the first chance I get, I’m biting him.”  He shuddered.  “Damn, this is hard, not knowing where he is or what’s happening to him.  It’s got to be just as hard for you, I know.”

“Just focus on the task at hand,” Pharrell advised, frowning at the blueprint.  Only his eyes betrayed how much pain he was in.  As always, the general was completely professional, ignoring the pain.  “There are exits here and here, and we’re going to have to somehow have eyes on them all.  When Usher and Christina join us, it will be easier.  But until then, we’re going to have our hands full if anything goes wrong.  And I’m fairly certain that something is bound to go wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m a little worried about Adam’s reaction to all this, to be perfectly honest,” Pharrell admitted.  “Adam really is not an actor, Blake.  He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s going to be hard pressed not to say or do something that gives us away.  If King Crazy gets any hint that we’re not what we say we are, then he’ll send his men after us.  And then it’s going to be a fight we can’t win, not even with the White Wolf!  Not even you can take on forty alphas and four hundred ferals, Blake.”

“I know,” Blake groaned.  “That’s one more thing we need to consider, too.  If it does come down to a fight, whatever happens, you can’t let me berserk.  I’ll get us all killed if that happens, Pharrell!”

“I know, buddy, I know.”  Pharrell patted his Pack Alpha’s shoulder.  “That’s why we need to…”

He was interrupted when the door suddenly flew open and about three dozen betas and six alphas poured into the house and pounced on the two.  “Whoa!” Blake yelled, finding himself thrown to the ground.  “What the hell?”

“Your plot to assassinate the King failed, traitors!”  It was David, the alpha they’d met earlier.  “You’re going to the dungeons until the King decides what to do with you.”

Assassinate the King?  Dammit, Adam, what the hell did you do?  Blake suppressed a groan as his hands were bound behind his back.  Then he stiffened in anger as a beta approached with a leather prisoner of war collar.  It was all he could do to keep from snapping as it was locked around his neck, a chain attached.  He’d never felt so humiliated and degraded in all his life.  But then again, wasn’t that precisely what the custom was designed to do?

Think of Adam now, Blake, he told himself as he and Pharrell were roughly yanked up and dragged, stumbling, towards the door.  He bore this for weeks.  Now it’s your turn.

Before they knew it, both alphas were thrown into separate cells in the dungeon.  As the door clanged shut, Pharrell cursed.  “Fuck!”

“Bend over.”  Despite everything, Blake couldn’t help but chuckle.  “I,” he declared, “do not believe this shit.  What the hell did that idiot do?”

“I don’t know,” Pharrell responded, “but he may well have killed us, Blake!  I honestly have no idea what we are going to do now.”  He paused.  “This cell just reeks of blood.  I think it was the vampire’s.  That means you must be in Adam’s cell, Blake.”

“Really?”  Blake immediately checked the walls, remembering the way Adam would lean against them.  And his search quickly paid off.  Scratched into the brick of the wall was a message, a heart containing the letters AL and BS.  Adam Levine loves Blake Shelton.

Blake let out his breath in a deep, contented sigh.  His heart, and his alpha, felt better than they had in over a week, just from seeing that crude, childish drawing.  He leaned against the wall, his hand over the message, and chuckled again.  “Don’t worry, Pharrell,” he assured.  “I note the damned Rockstar hasn’t joined us.  That means there’s still hope.  That jackass got us in, he’ll get us back out!”

“I hope so,” Pharrell grumbled.  “Ironic, isn’t it?  We came here to rescue Adam, and now we’re banking on Adam to rescue us!”

Blake grunted in reply.  He caught himself in the act of tugging on his collar and grimaced.  “We may be changing certain customs regarding prisoners of war when we get back, Pharrell.”

“If we get back.”

“I love your optimism.”

“I’m worried, Blake, I’m not going to lie.  We don’t know what happened or what kind of shape Adam’s in.  And meanwhile Patrick…”

Blake grimaced.  “Listen, buddy.  Even if the worst happened and Adam’s not able to help us, we have reinforcements coming, remember?  Christina and Usher can think on their feet nearly as well as you can, and I’m waiting to see what that damned vampire can do once his powers are back.  So relax, alright?  We will get out of here.  All of us.”

Pharrell paused a moment.  “Thanks, Blake,” he called gratefully.  “I needed that.  But for now, I guess all we can do is wait.”

****

Blake looked up when the dungeon door opened again and a group of anxious-looking betas came in.  At first glance, it appeared there were at least three dozen in the group.  He was surprised when the entire group crowded into his cell and haltingly ordered him to get up and put his hands behind his back.  “Relax,” he called as he complied.  “I ain’t gonna hurt ya.  I know y’all got your orders, alright?  Just calm down.”

The betas appeared unconvinced.  Blake cocked an eyebrow when he felt heavy metal manacles close on his wrists rather than ropes.  That was unusual, and worrisome.  His concern increased when his ankles were manacled as well, a short length of chain between them letting him walk, but not run or kick.  By the time they attached not one, but two heavy chains to his collar and two more around his waist, Blake was certain of what had happened.  “I think we’re in trouble, buddy,” he called to Pharrell.  “Looks like I’m going out in full chains.”

Pharrell groaned loudly.  “No!  They know!  They fucking know!  How the hell did they know?”

Blake had no answer.  He offered no resistance, letting himself be led out of the cell.  “I get why you’re afraid,” he sighed at the betas.  “But I’m not fighting, and I won’t hurt ya.”

“I let you down,” Pharrell said quietly.  “I let us all down!”

“No you didn’t!” Blake snapped.  “I knew the risk when I came here.  I’m just sorry the rest of you have to suffer.”

“We all made our choices.  I want you to know, it’s been an honor fighting at your side.  Even know, when it’s dark.”

Leave it to Pharrell to find a subtle way to give Blake hope when everything seemed hopeless.  “Honor’s all mine, my friend!” he yelled back as the betas were pulling him quickly towards the door.

Ahead, Blake could see that the front door was standing ajar.  Outside, night had fallen.  But the darkness was pierced with hundreds of glowing red eyes.  Gathered outside the building was an army of enthralled ferals.  His heart ached for Carson, seeing the ominous red glow in so many eyes.  The strain the blood gem was putting on the beta must be tremendous.  In the darkness, the red eyes were all Blake could see, all staring back at him.  Clearly, the vampire hadn’t yet arrived.

Alright, then.  Time to die.

The Pack Alpha set his shoulders and started towards them, only to be pulled back.  To his surprise, the betas were leading him further into the building.  Apparently, he had an audience with the King before the enthralled ferals tore him apart.

King Crazy was sitting on his throne.  A pale, drawn looking Carson was bound hand and foot and seated on the floor next to the throne, panting softly.  Patrick was wearing a ridiculous velvet outfit and sporting fresh bruises.  The King had one arm wrapped tightly around his waist, keeping Patrick on his lap despite the fact that the unhappy omega clearly wanted to pull away from him.  Judging from the odd way the omega held his hands behind his back, Blake guessed that Patrick was likely bound, too.  But the one face that Blake most wanted to see was nowhere in sight.

Blake was brought partway up the aisle, where his chains were attached to four heavy rings that appeared to have been hastily attached to the floor.  He shook his head in disgust.  “Given the precautions being taken with me, I’m going to assume that I don’t need to introduce myself?”

“No, Pack Alpha Blake Shelton, you do not,” the King replied.  “I suppose it was irresponsible of me to not lock you in chains right away, but I had a meeting to get to and I didn’t want to upset my Regulators by telling them they were going after the White Wolf.  Bold of you to try to assassinate me in my own court under false pretenses!  But at least you brought me some lovely gifts.  I don’t imagine the beta will last long, not with the number of ferals I can control now, but he should suffice until I destroy your pack.  And that starts tonight, White Wolf.  Once we finish our business here, my court packs up and starts over the mountains.  In a few days, your pack will be no more.  But not until I take care of you.”  He shook his head.  “I still can scarcely believe it.  The great White Wolf, come here in person to try to assassinate me!”

“I didn’t come here to assassinate your sorry ass, you crazy son of a bitch!" Blake spat.  "I came here for my mate!  Where’s Adam?”

“Your mate?”  The King laughed, and Patrick and Carson cringed.  “Adam is mine, White Wolf!  He submitted to me.  His omega may have rejected my claim, but Adam is still mine to do with as I please.”

“Let me see him!” Blake begged.  “You said yourself you can’t claim him, and his omega rejected you.  Let me bite him and heal him before you kill me!”

“Let you bite my omega?  Surely you jest!”

“Blake!” Patrick cried.  “Adam…”

“Silence!” the King ordered, clamping his hand over Patrick’s mouth.  “Or shall I beat this beta you seem so fond of some more?  Hmm?  I told you, an omega should be seen, and not heard!  I swear, you’re nearly as willful as Levine!”

Patrick twisted his head away from the hand and grimaced, not looking at Blake.

“Dammit, Adam is going to die if I don’t bite him!” Blake argued.  “Let me save his life, then do whatever you want with me.  Please!  Let me help him!”

“You must think I’m a fool!  I know you’re here to assassinate me!” the King accused.  “You think that the fact that all of you have been asking about him, and you look so determined…  And you could have assassinated me when we first met…”  The King’s voice trailed off, and his eyes grew wide.  “By my crown!  You’re in love with him, aren’t you?  Pack Alpha Blake Shelton, the great White Wolf, risked everything and came here, into my territory, because he’s in love with Adam Levine!”  He laughed again.  “Oh, that is too rich!  And really, you’ve made it too easy.  You see, White Wolf, you haven’t given me two gifts, but three!”

“Quit fucking grandstanding, you damned drama queen!” Blake yelled.  “Just let me help Adam!  He’s got to be so damned sick by now!”

“Oh, but he did provide a great deal of enjoyment,” the King replied.  He leaned forward, holding tightly to Patrick, and grinned widely.  “Why don’t I tell you just how much I’ve already enjoyed him?”

And then he began to describe, in great detail, everything he had done to the omega.  It wasn’t five minutes before the red haze fell.

Even expecting it, the King was still shocked when it happened.  He leapt up from his throne with a shout of surprise, holding Patrick before him like a shield.  “Amazing,” he breathed, taking in the sight of the berserker, snarling and struggling in his chains.  “That was so easy!  He really does love him!”

“You’re a bastard,” Carson snarled.  “What’s the point of making him berserk?  Target practice for your ferals?”

“What?  Oh no!  Why would I waste such a precious gift?”  The King reached a hand towards Carson, concentrating on the blood gem.  Carson whimpered.

“Stop it!” Patrick yelled, trying again to pull away.  “What are you…?”

“Three gifts,” the King announced.  “The White Wolf brought me three gifts.  And now I have the third, and I cannot wait to try it out!”

****

Pharrell’s hopes faded when the betas returned to collect him.  When he was taken out of the dungeon and then led out into the night, he saw the sea of glowing red eyes and knew that the vampire hadn’t come.  He briefly wondered what happened, hoping that at least Usher and Christina were safe.  The general looked around on the ground, searching for telltale signs of blood or anything that might give a clue as to the fate of his Pack Alpha.  But there was nothing.

“Pharrell!”  

Patrick.  His Patrick was being held by King Keith, and struggling to get free.  Those amazing sapphire eyes filled with tears as he strained towards Pharrell.  “Let me go!  Pharrell!”

“General Pharrell Williams, I presume?” the King called.  “It is time for you to face your last fight.”

Pharrell shook his head, disgusted.  “I have a couple of requests,” he said as he was untied and the collar removed.

“I will listen, although I won’t promise I’ll fulfill them.  What are they?”

“First, don’t make Patrick watch this.”

“Request denied,” the King replied, cheerfully tightening his arms around the struggling boy.  “You’ve brought me a lovely omega and I simply cannot keep my hands off of him!”

“Let go of me, you piece of shit!” Patrick snarled.  “Let me die with him!”

“You know, you could have done a better job training him in manners, General Williams,” Keith sighed.  “You’re not dying with this other alpha, Patrick.  You are my Queen now, and I suspect watching the death of your former mate may do you some good.”

“No!  Let me go!  Pharrell!”

“Patrick, you hang on, you hear me?” Pharrell ordered.  “You stay strong and find a way to get out of here.  That’s an order!”

Patrick flinched, but nodded.

“Then my second request,” Pharrell continued.  “Where’s Adam Levine?”

“By my crown!  You people are absolutely obsessed with that omega!” the King exclaimed.  “If it means that much to you, I’ll let Patrick tell you.”

Patrick flinched again and looked away.  “He’s fine, Pharrell,” he called.  “He’s ok.”

“Then you stay strong, Patrick, and listen to Adam.  Your best chance is together, do you hear me?”

Patrick nodded, not looking Pharrell in the eyes.

Pharrell nodded as well.  Then he cracked his knuckles.  “Alright, asshole.  Bring on the ferals.  I’m ready for my final fight.”

The King laughed.  “Oh my dear General Williams, your fight won’t be against the ferals!  No, I have a much better match in store for you.  Allow me to reintroduce an old friend, someone that I believe you know quite well.  For you see, when your Pack Alpha came here, he brought me three wonderful gifts.  The first is the beta.”  He indicated Carson.  The beta was lying on the floor near the King’s feet, dragged there by one of the King’s servants.  “As I worked with my feral army, it became apparent that to exercise the amount of control I would need over the proper number for the length of time I required, I would most certainly have to kill the bearer of the gem.  And I couldn’t kill one of my own pack!  But a treacherous beta?  Well now, that’s the perfect solution, isn’t it?  So for that gift, I thank you!”

Pharrell clenched his fists.

“The second, of course, you brought to me yourself.  My lovely Queen!”  He made as if to kiss Patrick, but the boy twisted his face away.  The King settled for scenting him instead.  “He’s a bit reluctant, as you can see.  But I’ve no doubt he’ll soon come around.  Even Adam Levine submitted to me eventually!  So for this gift, I thank you!”

Pharrell clamped a heavy lid on his emotions.  His voice was calm and steady as he spoke.  “And the third?”

“The third is your opponent.  The greatest warrior in your pack.  Behold!”  With a dramatic sweep of his robe, the King stepped out of the doorway.

Behind him stood the White Wolf.  From the way he moved and the foam at his muzzle, it was clear that he’d berserked.  But his eyes were glowing red.  With a low growl, he stepped forward, moving past the King to face Pharrell and bringing one hand up in front of his chest.

“Don’t you love the irony?” the King laughed.  “I had to test it to be sure, and it certainly wasn’t easy.  Took me several tries before I could get him to obey my commands.  But it appears that once your Pack Alpha loses himself to the berserker rage, his mind becomes animalistic enough to be controlled by the blood gem!  I’ll be using the White Wolf himself to lead my army to destroy his own pack.  Don’t you love it?  So for this gift, I thank you!”  He pointed at Pharrell.  “Now, White Wolf!  Destroy him!”

The White Wolf snarled and charged forward.  Pharrell didn’t even go to his lycan form, instead setting his body to meet his Pack Alpha head on.  The two met and vanished into the darkness.

“Took you long enough,” Pharrell whispered.

“You have no idea what I have been through, Rover, so shut up and enjoy the ride!”  The voice that whispered from the muzzle of the White Wolf lacked Blake’s familiar accent.  “You’re supposed to be getting ripped apart here.  Shouldn’t you be screaming or something?”

“If I was, I wouldn’t scream and upset Patrick, so no.  Can you get me to the others?”

“We’re here.”  It was Christina.  “And sorry about upsetting your mate, Pharrell, but the White Wolf wouldn’t come back from killing you without blood all over him.”

“Can’t be helped.  Patrick’s strong, he’ll get through this.”  He turned to Sean as Christina and Usher liberally doused the White Wolf’s fur with blood, noting the half vampire’s softly glowing red eyes as he used his charm magic.  “Gotta say, seeing Blake like that scared the hell out of me.  What made you decide to pick that particular gesture?”

“This one?”  Sean mimicked the gesture he’d had the White Wolf make in front of his chest, hidden from the view of the King.  “It was drawn all over the walls of the buildings back in your city.  Back in the day, it meant ‘I love you.’  Seemed fitting.  Excuse me, I gotta take Big Bad Red back to his Royal Psychopath.”  Sean returned his attention to the White Wolf, sending him jogging back to the King.  “We’ve been here a few hours now, but when we didn’t get the signal from you guys, we knew something was wrong.  So I charmed a bat – Don’t you dare tell Fido! – and used it to spy.  Figured out what was going on pretty quick.  I was able to snag Red, but it wasn’t easy.”

“Pharrell, we’ve got a problem,” Usher interrupted.  “We assumed Sean would be able to control the ferals once he broke the blood gem, but the Druids said that won’t be the case.  The ferals who were never enthralled will remain as they were, acting like natural wolves, for a bit longer.  But any that were controlled by the gem?  Once the blood gem breaks, it breaks the other spell, too.  So they’ll revert.  Instantly.  That’s why Sean didn’t just break the gem as soon as we got here.”

“We can be of some assistance, I believe,” called a voice from the empty air.  And then an old man in a hooded deerskin robe materialized from the air.

“Meet my new friend the Arch Druid,” Christina called.  “He’s here with a few other Druids to lend a hand.”

“We will help undo the damage we have done,” the Arch Druid declared.  “We’ll help hold back the feral wolves, give you time to get inside and rescue your friends.  When the battle is over, if you are successful, we will heal the survivors.  But we will not otherwise interfere.  This battle is yours, werewolves.  If you fail, we will not come to your aid.”

“Understood.”  Pharrell did a quick assessment.  “Alright.  King Crazy is getting ready to move his ‘court’ out and start marching on our city.  We need to make our move before they get going, but we’ve got a problem.  Adam.  Something is seriously wrong with Adam.  I could tell by the way Patrick wouldn’t look at me.  I think he’s in worse shape than we feared!  We need to find him and get him to Blake, pronto!”

“Why do these crazy mutts follow the craziest mutt anyway?” Sean asked.

“Obviously, he’s the most powerful alpha,” the Arch Druid sniffed.  “Do study your werewolf behavior a bit?”

Sean grumbled.  “Look, that asshole has the damned blood gem on my prize pedigree, and I’m not leaving it there any longer than I have to!  I’m worried about Lassie, too, but the only one I’m seeing that’s in real danger is Carson!  We’ve got to help him!”

“Whoa!” Christina called, surprised.  “You used his real name!”

“Yeah, well, don’t tell him.  He might think I care or something.  Now come on, Rover, give us a plan here!”

Pharrell thought for a moment.  Then he began to speak.

****

Patrick felt numb.  He surely wasn’t in love with Pharrell.  After all, he wasn’t even bonded to the alpha anymore.  But when the White Wolf had charged and borne Pharrell into the night, Patrick still felt as if a piece of his heart had been torn out all the same.  What he’d yelled out had been true.  He’d wanted nothing more than to stand at the alpha’s side and face the end together, bond or no bond.

But apparently that wasn’t his fate.

He’d never wanted to be anything other than what he was.  He was born an omega, and as much as he’d admired Adam Levine, Patrick Mason had never resented his gender or tried to be something else.  He’d learned to fight not so he could stand with the alphas like Adam, but so he could help his fellow omegas.  He’d been proud to face off with abusive alphas and show them that omegas weren’t objects or possessions.

Now he was exactly that.

Patrick’s hands and arms had long ago gone numb from being bound for so long.  King Keith never let go of him for an instant.  If the alpha wasn’t holding him around his waist, usually on his lap, he had Patrick by the arm.  Patrick had wanted to kick and bite, to fight and try to force the alpha to take his hands off him.  But the one time he’d tried had resulted in a beating, not for himself, but for Carson.  Of course, Keith hadn’t hesitated to use his fists on Patrick after their abortive attempt at escape, and Patrick had no doubt that it would be far from the last beating he would receive.  But Carson was in real trouble.  And after what they’d had seen in the King’s chambers, Patrick was terrified for them both.

Still, there was nothing he could do.  Once, Patrick would have been resigned to his fate.  He’d been fully prepared to be claimed and taken by whatever alpha his father had sold him to.  After Blake’s pack had captured him, he’d put up no resistance when Christina had pulled him out of the line while he was being parceled out with the other omegas.  And when Pharrell had pulled rank and claimed him instead, well, he’d been accepting of that, too.  But he couldn’t accept this.  His omega was claimed, but Patrick would not, could not, meekly submit any longer to the monster that held him now, the man who had killed the one person who had come to mean more to him than any other.  And apparently the King knew this.  “How long are you going to keep me tied up?” Patrick grumbled irritably as the King retied his hands.  “I can’t even feel my hands!  Is this what I can expect for the rest of my life?”

“That will depend entirely on how quickly you learn,” the King announced.  He had pulled Patrick into a litter was tying the omega’s hands above his head to one of the supports inside.  “You’ll definitely have to stay like this overnight.  I’ll be resting while we’re transported over the mountain, and I won’t have you trying to run off.  That will disturb my beauty rest, and I can’t have that.  But I’m certain we can work something out in the morning.”  He smiled at him fondly.  “You can’t leave me, Patrick.  You’re mine.  I’ve claimed you, and this is your life now.  It really is best if you simply accept it.”

“Go to hell.”  Patrick’s voice had more depression than venom.  He turned his face away and raised his shoulder defensively as the King tried to kiss him.  “Leave me alone, dammit, haven’t you done enough to me tonight?”

“There is one thing I’d intended to do to you that I unfortunately did not get the time to do,” the King replied.  “But don’t worry.  This litter has curtains, and I’ll be able to privately consummate our bond.”

“You mean rape me?” Patrick spat.  “You’re going to rape me in this stupid thing while betas are carrying us over the mountain?  You really are insane!”

That earned him a slap, but Patrick expected it.  He didn’t care anymore.  He’d already made up his mind.  He couldn’t live like this.  The first chance he got, he would end his life.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the King went to continue preparations for the journey, finally leaving him alone.  He tried struggling for a bit, knowing it was useless.  He’d been tied fast, and even if he managed to undo the knots, where could he go?  He was in the throne room, deep in enemy territory, with four hundred enthralled ferals and forty alphas waiting to obey his mate’s command.  There was no chance of escape.  Patrick slumped dejectedly.  His eyes moved to the still, silent figure lying on the floor in the front of the litter.  “Carson?” he called.  “Talk to me, buddy, let me know you’re alive!”

“Nothing to say,” Carson replied dully.  “He won’t move more than two hundred feet from me.  He’s just heading up to his chambers.  He’ll be back, and then…  I’m sorry, Patrick, for what’s going to happen to you.  You’re just a kid!  You don’t deserve any of this, especially not after you were so brave, coming in here knowing what could happen?  I wish there was something I could do.”

“You’re the one that’s dying!” Patrick protested.

“Not if I can help it,” a gruff voice called from the air.  “Hey Fido, how’s come you’re just lying around when there’s all this work to be done?”

“Batbreath?” Carson exclaimed, raising his head.  He saw nothing.  Except for himself and Patrick waiting in the litter, the throne room appeared to be empty.  “What the hell?  Vampires can go invisible?”

“Nah, but the Druids have some great magical spells.  They wouldn’t cast them, but it turns out General Aguilera’s got a real talent!”  The grinning face of the half vampire appeared as Sean dropped the cloaking spell, glowing red eyes full of mischief.  The eyes seemed to be a bit distant, for some reason, as though Sean’s mind wasn’t entirely on what he was doing.  As if to emphasize this, the half vampire paused, staring off into space for a moment.  Then he seemed to return to the present.  “First things first.  Far as you know, is Lassie still in the building?”

The two prisoners suddenly sobered.  “Yeah, he is,” Carson replied softly.  “King Crazy’s going to get him now, to bring him over the mountains with us.”

“Then it’s showtime!”  Drawing a sharp knife, Sean quickly released the two.  Then he moved to the window, opened it slightly, and gave a series of bird-like whistles.  A moment later, more bird sounds were dimly heard, and Sean grinned.  “Get ready boys, because once this thing goes bye bye, it’s going to get very exciting outside.  And here we go!”

Stretching out his hand towards the blood gem on Carson’s wrist, Sean snapped his fingers.

And just like that, the blood gem shattered.

From outside the building, four hundred suddenly released and reverted ferals gave a collective snarl.

Chapter Text

“Psst. Red.  Hey, Ol’ Red!  Can you hear me?”  

That was new.  Lost in the red haze deep in his mind, Blake stirred, turned towards the sound of the voice.  “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Sean.  Listen, buddy, sorry to tell you this, but I’ve got you in a charm spell right now.  You’re all hulked out, and King Crazy wants to use you to lead his army of ferals.  He tried to use the blood gem on you, buddy.  It wasn’t nearly powerful enough, but it turns out I am.  Barely.  Now I can help you control this, but only if you let me.  It’s taking a lot out of me to keep you on a leash as it is, and if you fight, well, I’ll have a hell of a headache and you’ll kill anything that moves.”  

“I won’t fight!” Blake hastily promised, thinking of his friends.  “If you can help me control the Beast, Sean, I will be grateful for the rest of my life!”

“Aww, that’s sweet.  Ok, here’s what we’re going to do.  I can control you in this state, but once you’re out of it, you’re on your own.  I’m going to try to pass some of my control over to you, so you can knock down the Beast on your own.  But once that happens, you’ll have to let me back in.  We need to work together to bring you completely down.  You gotta trust me, Red!”  

“I trust you.  Just tell me what to do.”  Of course Blake trusted Sean.  The half vampire had come through for them after all, just when things were at their lowest point.

The instructions Blake received weren’t words so much as a subtle alteration in his thoughts, a way of thinking that utilized areas of the Pack Alpha’s brain not normally tapped.  It was odd, and difficult.  But then suddenly, Blake was seeing the world washed in the familiar red, without becoming lost in it.  But his head was swimming, his consciousness battered by his out of control emotions.  Blake teetered on the edge of losing control.

He felt something, an odd nudge somehow in his mind.  Sean.  Blake reached towards the sensation, letting him back in.  “Ok, Red, we do this part together.  Focus hard, now!”

Once again, the subtle alteration in his thoughts, as if the vampire were lighting up areas of his brain, directing Blake where to go.  He followed without hesitation.  And before he knew it, Blake was back to himself.

“When you turn around, and they see your eyes aren’t glowing anymore?  They’re going to know you’re loose,” Sean warned.  “So be ready for a fight!”

“Trust me, I’m ready!”  Blake’s hands twitched in anticipation.

“I’m right here, Red, if you need me.  I’ll back off and let you do your thing, but I’ll keep tabs on you.  Just give me a poke!  And so you know, there’s some Druids here, too.  They’re going to help with the ferals, but this fight is all ours, big guy.  Now get in the building and shut the door.  I’m about to unleash the slobbering horde!”  

“Thanks, Sean.  I’m more grateful than you’ll ever know.”  

“No problem.  Now sic ‘em, boy!”  

The White Wolf turned and started walking casually into the building.  The alpha next to him frowned.  “Where you going, bitch?  You’re supposed to be waiting for…”

Without even turning his head, the White Wolf grabbed the mouthy minor alpha by the throat, lifted him up, and gave him a sharp shake.  Even without his berserker strength, Blake was strong, and his neck snapped like a twig.  Still holding the alpha in one hand, Blake grabbed another and broke his neck as well.  Then he charged forward into the astonished group at the door, using the two bodies as weapons to drive them back, and kicked the door shut behind him.

A moment later, the ferals went wild.  Chaos ruled, the mindless savages ignoring the frantically waving green lanterns, attacking anything in reach.  The King’s pack, in the process of packing for the journey over the mountains, was caught completely off guard.  Ferals swarmed the town, breaking whatever they could, savaging anything that moved.  Rolling, snarling balls of fur filled the streets, locked in ferocious combat with anyone or anything they could find.  The air rang with howls, growls, snarls, and screams.

Unnoticed on the outskirts of town, the Druids raised their staffs, chanting together, calling on the powers of nature.  And nature responded.  The dark sky grew even darker, thick clouds blotting out the moon and stars.  Thunder rolled, and jagged bolts of lightning drove the ferals back, herding those that approached their position back into the town.  “Keep them there for now,” the Arch Druid ordered.  “The werewolves asked for their cover for exactly five minutes.  Then we drive them back into the wilderness.”

As screams echoed outside, the entry of the King’s home rang with screams as well.  Blake unleashed all his anger, pain, and loss on the half dozen panicking alphas unfortunate enough to be in the foyer with him.  He was quick to discover that most of them were too terrified to fight, screaming in horror at the very sight of the White Wolf on the rampage.  Two even ran outside in their desperation to escape the carnage inside, running directly into the melee in the streets.  Of course.  This pack would have been where all the cowards and deserters from the war had gathered, and they’d run because they were terrified of him.

And then suddenly, Usher was there, fighting through the shocked inhabitants of the castle to reach his Pack Alpha.  He looked warily at the White Wolf.  “Blake?”

“I’m here,” Blake replied.  “Sean’s helping me.”

“Good.  C’mon, we gotta meet up with the others!”

Blake defenestrated another alpha.  “Lead the way!  Where’s Adam?”

“Don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough!”  He grinned up at his Pack Alpha.  “Great to really have you at my side for once, big guy!”

“Same.  Now let’s rock!”

****

Patrick and Carson led Sean through the chaos in the building, heading for the rear entrance.  There, Patrick practically flew into Pharrell’s arms.  Pharrell’s teeth were in Patrick’s neck before anyone could say a word, reclaiming his mate even as Patrick’s teeth sank into his own neck.  “Mine,” Pharrell sighed.

“I love you,” Patrick replied.  “I love you, Pharrell, I love you!”

“I love you too, baby!”

There was a sniffing sound, and the pair turned to see Carson wiping at his streaming eyes.  “Shut up,” he hiccuped.  “It’s beautiful!”

Then a quick tapping sound drew everyone’s attention.  They turned to see Christina with Sean.  The tapping sound was her foot, rapidly tapping on the ground as she leaned towards Sean.  Sean was busy scratching at the fur behind her ear.  “Who’s a good gwirl?  Who cast cloaking spells like a good gwirl?” he was crooning fondly.  “You are!  Yes, you are!”

Christina saw everyone looking and cringed.  “I hate myself,” she confessed, shame-faced.  “But it feels so good!”

Pharrell rolled his eyes.  “Ok, first things first.  Where’s Adam, and how bad is he?”

Silence.  Patrick and Carson were staring at each other.  Finally, Carson sighed, and spoke seven words.

The room went silent and still.

“If that’s the case,” Christina said at last, “then we need to move.  The Druids won’t keep the ferals in town for much longer.  Then we’ll be facing whatever’s left of this pack.  And I, for one, am not leaving until I see that King lying dead on the floor!”

“Agreed,” Pharrell snarled.  “Patrick, why don’t you take Carson and get him out of town as soon as the ferals clear the way?”

“Because we’re staying,” Carson announced.  “Maybe I can’t help in the fight, but I’m not leaving without my brother!”

“And I stay at your side,” Patrick told Pharrell.  “Where you go, I go!”

“If you’re staying, you need me,” Sean declared.  “And I’m betting Rinty and Red won’t be willing to run either.  So what’s the plan, Rover?”

“Do you know where this King is?” he asked Carson and Patrick.

Patrick nodded.  “He went to his chambers with his Regulators, for Adam.  Even though…  He was still going to bring Adam with us!”

Pharrell’s face was as cold as it had ever been during the worst of the war.  “You want to know the plan?  The plan is that we clean house!  Based on what I’ve seen, there isn’t one damned thing about this pack worth saving.  So I say, this time, we don’t give them a chance to regroup and come back after us!  With the ferals out of the equation and I’d estimate about half the alphas out with them, we’re looking at about twenty opponents plus the King.  That, we can handle!  Let’s meet up with Blake and Usher and wipe these fuckers off the map!”

Howls of approval rose from the werewolves, fangs bared and hackles up.  Even Carson was snarling.

“One quick question,” Sean called.  “How much do we tell Red?  I can tell him right now if you want me to, but with him just down off of berserk?”

“Tell him we’ve decided to end the threat,” Pharrell replied.  “We’ll tell him why later.”

“You got it, kid.  I’ll get the door when we’re ready for the big entrance!”

Christina and Patrick fell in behind Pharrell, with Sean and Carson close behind.  Sean gestured, and the rear door to the throne room opened.  “Da-da-da-DA!  Da-DA!  Charge!"

****

“Hey Red, you up for a fight?”  

Sean again.  “Sure,” Blake sent back.  “What do you have in mind?”

“Rover’s saying that there’s nothing about this pack worth saving, and we’ll never have a better chance to wipe their sorry asses out.  We’re about to leave the throne room, heading upstairs after the King’s royal ass.  You want to stick around and play?”  

“Damned right, I do!  Tell him I agree, whole heartedly!”  To Usher, he said, “Sean just told me that Pharrell wants to clean these fuckers out.  I agree!  This pack is even worse than we were told, buddy, and I say the whole world is better off without them in it.”

Usher grinned broadly.  “Where do they want to meet?”

“King’s chambers.  Come on, let’s find ‘em!”

****

King Keith was having a very bad night.

First he suddenly, abruptly lost his connection with the blood gem.  And all the ferals went wild, attacking his town and his pack.

Then, he went through the horrible, humiliating pain of having his new bond broken.

Now his Regulators were arguing with him.  “The White Wolf is right downstairs!” Daniel was saying.  “This is not the time for this, Keith!  We need to get the hell out of here!”

“I just lost my mate!” the King roared, glaring at his second in command.  “I will not leave Adam!”

“Then just scoop him up and let’s go!” Daniel argued.  “I’ll carry him myself if you want!  You don’t need that stupid box…”

The King, who had been full lycan for some time now, snarled and slashed furiously at the other alpha.  “I will transport my Queen in a manner that is fitting for his royal status!” he yelled.  “Let the White Wolf come!  I will face him!”

“Glad to hear it!”

The White Wolf was coming up the stairs, trailed by his generals and Patrick, with Sean and Carson bringing up the rear.  The eight Regulators immediately went full lycan, moving into a defensive stance.  But the King had eyes only for one.  “My mate!” he exclaimed.  “They’ve stolen you from me, and now you stand against me?  Treachery!”

“You claimed me, but I was never yours and I never will be!” Patrick yelled.  “So suck my omega cock!”

Blake, Christina, and Usher laughed out loud.  Pharrell grumbled something about too much time spent with Adam and shook his head.

The King calmly unclasped the hooks holding his cape in place and let it fall to the floor.  “I suppose I should have expected this,” he said as he removed his crown.  “But I’m so disappointed.  Gentlemen?”  He directed this to his Regulators, as he removed his robes, revealing an odd outfit made of soft leather covered with metal rivets.  “I prepared for the possibility of treachery, and I’m ready for this battle.  I will deal with the White Wolf.  You handle these interlopers, and do try not to kill my mate?  I’ll reclaim him once his miraculous resurrecting alpha is dead for real this time!”  He looked at Blake and beckoned, talons gleaming oddly metallic in the light.  “Come at me, White Wolf!”

Blake was happy to comply, but instead, the self-proclaimed King came at him, charging low.  His shoulder caught Blake in the abdomen, knocking him off balance, and the two of them went tumbling down the stairs.

After that, it was chaos.  Blake’s generals and King Keith’s Regulators attacked each other with enthusiasm, each determined to wipe out the other.  Carson dodged flying limbs and furniture, finally running for cover into the King’s chambers.

He was about to slam the door shut when a brown blur shot through the opening and slammed it for him.  The vampire was wide-eyed and panting as he stood next to Carson, both of them with their back to the door, holding it shut.  “Oh shit, they’re fighting, oh damn, oh hell…”

“You are the worst vampire I have ever seen!” Carson exclaimed.  “I cannot believe you are hiding in here when our friends are out there fighting for their lives!”

“I’m only half vampire!” Sean defended.  “What’s your excuse, furball?  You’re a full blooded werewolf!  Go out there and bite someone!”

“I’m a beta!”

“I’m a pacifist!”

“You’re an idiot, Batbreath.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a…  Oh.  That is a coffin.  That’s…?”

Carson nodded, intentionally not looking at the box.  “Yeah.”

“Oh man, that sucks.  Uh oh…”

Carson eyed him.  “What?”

“Nothing,” Sean said, too quickly for Carson’s taste.  His eyes suddenly squeezed shut and he grimaced, hands going to his head as he let out a little moan of pain.

Carson grabbed his shoulders in alarm.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sean grunted.  “Red just hulked out again, is all.  I’ll deal with it later.  Don’t worry about it now, Fido, we got bigger concerns.”

“Oh.  Ok, that’s not good, but I think King Crazy’s got it coming!  Seriously, though,” Carson said, “we’re hiding in here while our friends are fighting for their lives!  We need to do something!”

“What do you suggest?”

“You’re a vampire!” Carson insisted.  “Surely you can do something?”

“For fuck’s sake, Fido!  I’m only half vampire, and I can’t even do half of what a full vamp can do!” Sean exploded.  “The charm spell only works on animals.  I have some telekinetic power, but probably couldn’t lift that coffin.  And I’m telepathic!  Now wasn’t that an exciting list?  For five hundred years, I have hid what I am with very little trouble because I really am not that impressive, alright?  I survived on my wits, not my powers!  I really don’t care for my vamp side anyway!  Why do you think I prefer to live as a human?”

Carson swore.  “There’s gotta be something we can do!  If you survived on your wits, put them to use!  Think of something, dammit!”

“Um…”  Sean looked around.  “What are those?  Supplies?”

“Yes,” Carson confirmed.  “King Crazy was gearing up to take his fight over the mountains.”

Sean looked in one of the crates and grinned.  “I got an idea!”

****

Outside the King’s chambers, Blake’s generals were being pressed hard by the Regulators.  Both sides were torn and bleeding.  Patrick was limping badly from a deep wound on his leg.  He stayed close to Pharrell, who stood like a rock, holding back the onslaught of the Regulators, ignoring the dozens of bleeding wounds he’d received.  Christina darted around him, doing the most damage of their group, while Usher skillfully wore the Regulators down.  Two Regulators had already been killed.  A third went down, flailing between the combined attacks of Christina and Patrick.  Now the odds were down to four on five.  But the Regulators’ skills matched those of the generals, and both sides were standing their ground.

And then the door to the King’s chambers flew open, and a roaring figure came running out.

“Look out, it’s the White Wolf!” a voice screamed.  “He’ll tear us all apart!”

The Regulators turned around quickly, seeing a figure with snow white fur charging out, foam dripping from his muzzle.  In the heat of the moment, no one thought to ask how the berserker had managed to get past them and into the King’s chambers.  And at the sight of the monster that had destroyed their pack, one Regulator immediately panicked.  And that broke the resolve of the others.

With their opponents demoralized, it was easy for the generals to finish them off.  Then all four of the fighters doubled over, laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes.  “Oh, Carson!” Usher hiccuped.  “Blake has got to see this!”

“Don’t you dare tell him!” Carson snapped, spitting foam on the floor.  “Dammit, Batbreath, get me cleaned up before Blake comes back!”

“I,” Sean declared, strutting out, “am a genius!  And don’t worry, Fido, I’m sure the flour will wash out of your fur.”

Carson shook, creating a cloud of flour, and spit more foam.  “Next time, you are the one who chews the soap.  That was disgusting!”

“Wait,” Pharrell called.  “Guys, it’s quiet downstairs.  Way, way too quiet!”  He moved to the stairs and ran down until he could see into the entryway.  Then his face turned grey.  “Christina!  Call those Druid healers in here, now!”

****

Blake and King Keith rolled head over heels down the stairs, fighting and tearing at each other the entire time.  Blake was having a surprisingly difficult time.  The other alpha had looked so absurd in his regal trappings that it was easy to forget the man had once been one of the top warriors in Adam’s pack.  And then there was his outfit.  The odd studded armor was blocking Blake’s claws and teeth, helping to disperse his blows.  Meanwhile, the King’s own claws were unusually wicked, tearing into Blake and leaving deep wounds behind.  The strength behind the King’s blows was surprising as well.  Every hit felt like it would break bones.

The two hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs with a bone-jarring thud.  In an instant, they were back up and facing off.  Blake had four inches and about ten pounds on the King, but his armor was proving a real hindrance to Blake’s attacks.  The White Wolf circled warily, watching for an opening.

The King bared his fangs, slashing again at Blake with his claws.  The White Wolf dodged quickly, but the claws raked his arm.  Blake retaliated by dropping down into a low swinging kick.  Amazingly, the surprisingly-agile King cartwheeled over it, kicking one of his silly pointed gold shoes at Blake.  Blake grunted in pain, feeling the sharp blade hidden in the point of the ridiculous shoe dig into his abdomen.  “You dishonorable son of a bitch!” he snarled.

“Oh please!  I’m facing a berserker!” the King scoffed.  “When the odds are stacked against you, you knock over the stack!”  And he slashed again at Blake with his claws.

The red haze was falling again.  Blake stubbornly fought it back, not wanting to lose control when his friends needed him.  He needed his mind, the ability to think and get around the King and his armor and hidden weapons, not get killed throwing himself forward in a berserker rage.  It was clear to Blake that this King expected exactly that.  Only a lunatic would intentionally provoke a berserker, but clearly the King was exactly that.

“Did I tell you how your precious Adam moaned like a whore when I took him?” the King was taunting, still slashing and kicking at Blake.  “How every night he would beg me to leave him alone?”  His voice became high and mocking.  “I’m so sick!  I’m in too much pain!  Please not tonight!  Please, Keith, stop, you’re hurting me!”

The world was going red again.  Blake held on, using the techniques Sean had taught him.  “I’d be sick and in pain too if a cowardly, honorless, worthless crazy waste of oxygen like you was touching me!” Blake shot back.

“How dare you!  I am not crazy!”

Blake took another deep slash to his arm, but managed to catch the King hard on the side of the head with a powerful roundhouse, sending the smaller alpha sailing into the wall.  The White Wolf followed up quickly, diving on top of him.  Their jaws locked together in a warped parody of a kiss, even as they rained blows on each other.  Then the King slashed at Blake’s face, narrowly missing his eye, and Blake was forced to fall back.

The world was red again, but this time it was because his left eye was full of blood.  A loose flap of Blake’s scalp dangled slightly over it, blinding him on one side.  How?  How can his claws be so sharp?  And then he saw an odd metallic glint and understood.  “Oh, you bastard!  Going back to old tricks, huh?”

The White Wolf closed again with the King as he rose, but this time, he went for the smaller alpha’s wrists.  His claws scrapped, finding the hidden clasps, tearing through them.  As the King yelled in protest and slashed at Blake’s shoulder with his fangs, Blake yanked the metal-tipped gloves off his hands.  With a disgusted flick of his wrist, Blake tossed the gloves out the window.  “Ok, you son of a bitch, now let’s see what you’ve really got!”

In answer, the King quickly reached towards his hips, dipped his hands into his pockets, and produced a pair of sharp daggers.  Blake sighed.  “Just how many weapons do you have?  You really are insane!”

“Don’t call me insane!”  Spittle flew from the King’s muzzle as he moved forward, slashing furiously at Blake with his daggers.  Blake was forced to dance back or be eviscerated.

And then something flashed into his mind.

I can’t believe he’s gone.  

*Image of a dark wooden box with brass fittings, the scent of roses.  A procession of images of similar boxes, all containing people who appeared to be sleeping but weren’t.  Memories of grief, of loss*  

Poor Lassie.  

Blake blinked, coming back to himself just in time to narrowly avoid having his throat cut.  But inside, he was screaming in denial, screaming out his pain and loss, screaming even as the Beast in him roared and the world disappeared in a haze of red.  Too late, Sean tried to pull him back, only to be swatted out of Blake’s mind.  The White Wolf lunged at the King, oblivious of the blades that dug again and again into his body.  Talons closed on the King’s muzzle and one shoulder, jerking the King’s head back.  His fangs sank deep into the King’s throat, even as the daggers plunged one final time into his chest.

****

“Come back to us, Red,” Sean’s voice pleaded.  “Don’t you dare die on us, you son of a bitch!”

Blake was floating in darkness, but the vampire’s telepathic voice provided an anchor.  Blake floated towards it, even as part of him demanded he not return, that he couldn’t face what waited for him there.  But then there were sounds, light all around him.

“He’s coming back.”

“Oh, thank God!”

“Blake, open your eyes!”

Blake’s blue eyes blinked open, seeing only blurs.  He blinked again, and saw the tear streaked faces of his friends, standing behind a group of men and women wearing hooded deerskin robes.  The hooded figures appeared to be pointing tree limbs at him.  As they did, Blake felt his wounds mending, his pain receding.  “What happened?” he slurred.

“Right before you scattered bits and pieces of him all through the room, King Crazy stabbed you in the chest,” Usher explained.  “Looks like he stabbed you quite a few times before that.  You berserked and didn’t feel it, so you kept going.”

“You almost died, you damned idiot!” Christina shrieked.  “I would have never forgiven you if you’d died!  If the Druids hadn’t been here…?”

“Blake?” Pharrell called.  “You alright, buddy?”

“I…”  Blake sat up, wincing.  “Stiff!”

“It’s a side effect of the healing,” one of the robed figures, an old bearded man, explained.

“This is the Arch Druid,” Christina explained.  “He brought some of his Druids to drive off the ferals, and they came in to heal once the fight was over.”

“They saved your life, Blake,” Usher added.  “We would all be in real trouble, if they hadn’t helped!”

“Great!  Thanks!”  Blake got to his feet and looked around.  “Where’s Adam?”

Suddenly, no one would meet his eyes.  Blake went still, remembering something, something that had leaked into his mind…  “Sean, what was that box, the one you were looking at?  You remembered something?”

Sean suddenly appeared fascinated with the floor.  “It’s called a coffin,” he explained.  “Back in the day, humans used them to bury their dead.”

Blake narrowed his eyes.  “What does it have to do with Adam?”

Sean didn’t answer.

Blake looked around, his heart pounding.  “Someone tell me where he is!” he demanded.  “Where’s Adam?  Tell me!  Tell me!”

And then Carson stepped forward and repeated the seven words he’d told the others earlier.

“Adam’s dead, in a bed of roses.”

Chapter Text

Blake wasn’t sure what to expect when he entered the room and saw the “coffin” on the floor.  Angry?  Hurt?  He would have expected anything except what he actually felt.

Blake felt numb.

It was like someone had taken a giant scoop and hollowed him out inside.  And nothing, not the sobs in the hall, not the gentle touches of his friends, not even the tears that streamed down his face could penetrate the sudden muffling cocoon that he seemed to be moving in.

From where Blake stood in the doorway of the King’s chambers, he couldn’t see in the box.  The upper part of the mahogany lid was still raised, obscuring the contents from view.  Blake moved forward.  The heels of his boots tapping on the floor seemed to echo.  He could feel Sean’s anxious presence in the back of his mind as the half vampire watched, waiting in case Blake lost control again.  But Blake had never felt less like berserking in his life.  Everything, all of his life and all that he was, seemed to be hyper focused to a fine point that balanced delicately on this one moment in time as Blake rounded the end of the coffin and looked inside.

Adam lay there, silent and still and covered in rose petals.  Red, white, pink, and yellow petals rested in his hair, covered his body.  Only the tops of his hands as they rested across his abdomen and his face could be seen above their fragrant mass.  Plucked roses lay in a pile off to the side, and another basket of loose petals was resting next to the coffin, ready to be added in.  Apparently, Keith had ordered the job of covering Adam’s body with rose petals to continue despite the fight.  The alpha had truly been crazy.

For a while, Blake only stood and stared.  His eyes were glued to Adam’s face, burning his features into his memory for all time.  His hands fisted at his sides as his eyes fell on the bruises on that precious face.  Then he dropped to his knees and gently pushed the rose petals away, revealing more of Adam’s face, his throat, and the terrible wound on his neck that bore mute evidence of the reason for his death.  That bastard kept biting him, over and over!  He couldn’t accept that Adam’s omega rejected him, and he just kept trying again and again to claim him.  There must be a dozen teeth marks if there’s one!  That’s what killed him, because every single time that piece of shit bit Adam, he poisoned his omega more and more, until…

Until.

Adam was one of the strongest people Blake had ever met.  But even the last western warrior had his limits.  In the end, even Adam’s mighty heart had finally given out.

Blake gently ran the backs of his fingers over Adam’s face, ran the pads of his fingertips over his lips.  He felt so cool to his touch.  It didn’t seem right.  Adam had always had so much fire inside that he should always feel warm.  His skin shouldn’t feel like this, so cool and impersonal, as if this were just a thing that only resembled the unbreakable warrior Blake loved.  This couldn’t really be his Adam!  But that sweet scent.  The smell of the roses nearly overpowered it, but Blake could never mistake it for anything else.  This was Adam.

And Adam was gone.

Blake put his hand over one of Adam’s and remembered how the slender fingers had moved so easily and skillfully over the frets of the guitar.  He could close his eyes and hear Adam’s high sweet tenor, the way it had risen up to blend so beautifully with his own voice.

He remembered the way Adam laughed.

He remembered how Adam’s hazel eyes would blaze in anger as they’d fought and argued, that indomitable spirit shining bright and clear.  The omega who would not be broken.  The warrior who would never stop fighting.

The single greatest love of Blake’s life.

Somewhere out in the hall, his generals were talking.  Usher was explaining in low tones how they’d been captured, but Christina’s bold refusal to surrender had all but forced the Druids to listen to them.  How they’d told the story of the war and what was happening with the western pack.  How they were trying to rescue their friend.  Amazingly, Usher’s skills at diplomacy had been able to turn a hopeless situation into a chance at real peace between the Druids and the weres.  They had a new treaty ready for Blake to sign, and as a show of solidarity, the Druids had not only healed Usher and Christina and freed Sean, but they’d come to stand at their side against the ferals.  Outside, they were busy healing the battered members of Blake’s pack.  But when Pharrell had asked if there was any chance for Adam, Blake didn’t have to hear the answer.  He already knew.  No amount of magic could bring back the dead.

You did it, baby.  You really did it!  You changed the whole world, didn’t you, Rockstar?  And look how much it’s changed!  You only wanted to be respected as a warrior.  But instead, you changed our entire society!  You’ve liberated the omegas, freed the betas, and brought peace between the werewolves and the Druids.  You even got a vampire involved, you jackass!  Tomorrow will be a better day for all of us, and we’ve got you to thank for it.  

And yet you, the one who most deserves to live in this new world, are the one who’s denied it.  You brought peace, and paid the ultimate price for it.  

Blake bowed his head, clinging to the sides of the coffin for support.  He didn’t feel hollow anymore.  Pain like he’d never imagined poured into the emptiness inside of him like air rushing to fill a vacuum.  A sound rose in his chest, rising louder and louder until it drowned out everything else.  It was a steady pounding, increasing in tempo as well as volume.  And yet, he could hear the whispers outside, someone asking if they should go in, someone else saying no, he needs his time alone to say goodbye.  Why couldn’t they hear this sound?

Then he realized it was the pounding of his heart.  His heart, somehow going on and on when all Blake wanted was to tear it from his own chest and somehow give it to the lovely, still creature in the roses.  It belonged to Adam anyway, what did it matter?  Blake would have gladly given whatever years remained of his own life if Adam would only open his eyes, would only look at him one more time, would only hear him say

“I love you,” Blake whispered.  “I love you so much, Adam.  And I’m sorry, so very sorry, for all the terrible things I did to you.  I didn’t understand, baby!  I didn’t know how to love you, and now that I do, it’s too late.  The last time you saw me, all you saw was the monster inside of me.  But there’s a man in there too, Adam.  And that man has loved you from the moment I saw you.”

“I don’t know what to do,” he confessed.  He looked down, seeing the crystal drops on the rose petals and realizing they were his own tears.  “A part of me, a big part, wants to stay with you, Adam.  I don’t know how I can go on without you.  But I will.  Because the gift you gave me, the gift you gave us all?  That shouldn’t be wasted.”  He gently stroked Adam’s hair.  “So I’ll go on without you, my love.  I’ll find the strength to go on.  And I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to keeping this world on the path you set.”

Blake leaned over and kissed Adam’s forehead.  He smoothed back the dark hair, gazing fondly at his face one last time.  Then he reached down, picked up the last basket of rose petals, and dumped it in, watching as the petals fluttered softly down to cover Adam’s body.

Adam was gone, buried in the roses.

And then the petals over his face stirred, as if in a slight breeze.

Blake froze, staring hard.  And once again, he saw the rose petals stir, disturbed by an exhalation to shallow to see otherwise.  He’s breathing!

Blake dropped to his knees and shoved the other half of the lid open.  He reached into the petals, seizing Adam’s shoulders and pulling him up.  Rose petals fell back in a wave as the limp form came up, arms sliding down and head lolling back.  Blake pressed his head against Adam’s chest.  And faintly, he could hear it – the shallow breathing, and the last staccato beats of his heart.

“Get those Druid healers in here, now!” he bellowed.  And then, grimacing in anticipation of causing pain, Blake sank his fangs into the torn, ragged gland on Adam’s neck, reclaiming his mate, freeing him from Keith’s poison.  Finished, he looked up quickly.  But Adam didn’t stir.

“Please, Adam.  Please!” he begged, holding Adam tight against his chest, feeling his alpha’s faint response as it tried desperately to bond with the dying omega.  He could feel Adam fading away, slipping from his grasp even though Blake held him close.

But now the Druids were here, rapidly casting their healing spells.  Before Blake’s eyes, the ragged wound at Adam’s throat was mending, the torn marks of King Keith’s teeth fading away, leaving only Blake’s own mark.  The mark of the one true mate.

And then Adam took a deep breath, and the hazel eyes fluttered opened.  Adam stared past Blake at first, the eyes still returning from the brink of the abyss.  And then they focused on Blake’s face.  “Blake?” he said weakly.  Then he smiled.  “Big Country!  You came for me!  I knew you’d come for me!”

“I’ve got you, Rockstar,” Blake assured, lifting Adam free.  He held him close, feeling Adam’s arms go around his neck as rose petals fluttered to the ground.  Blake kissed Adam, breathed in his scent, and held him tight.  “I’ve got you, baby.  And I will never let you go again!”

****

One year later...  

Blake pushed through the door with his shoulder, his arms full.  Sean, walking next to him, naturally carried nothing.  “You act like they’ll disappear if you’re not with them all the time,” Sean complained.  “How long is it going to take before you figure out they’re not going anywhere?”

“Probably the rest of my life,” Blake admitted.  “Bring that table over here, would you?”

“Sure thing, Red.”  Sean cocked a finger, and the table slid noisily across the floor.

Blake rolled his eyes.  “You could have just pulled it over?” he said, putting the basket of blankets down on the table.

“You forget, I spent five centuries hiding what I was,” Sean explained.  “Now that I can just use my powers whenever I want, why not do it?  Besides, you know how lazy I am.”

“Yes, yes I do.  Don’t you have a cave you should be hanging upside down in somewhere?”

“That’s cute, Red.  Real cute.”

Blake chuckled.  “Seriously, though, shouldn’t you be going?  You need to tell the Druids, right?”

“Meh, they can wait a little longer.  I was hoping to spend some more time with Fido.  Didn’t get to see him much this visit.”

Blake smiled.  “I guess I’ve been keeping him pretty busy.”

“Yeah, but he loves it,” Sean assured.  “You picked the right man for the job.”

Blake agreed.  Putting Carson in charge of the omega/beta think tank had already resulted in dozens of new ideas that even Pharrell hadn’t considered.  Of course, Sean himself had proven exemplary in his new role as negotiator between the Druids and Blake’s pack.  The half vampire was the only one who could claim impartiality, and was surprisingly adept at reaching compromises between the two groups.  He’d even managed to secure volunteers willing to supply him with blood.  Of course, Blake had no intention of telling him that right now.  The man’s ego was big enough.

“Gonna go find Fido,” Sean announced.  He smiled softly.  “By the way, they’re absolutely beautiful.”

Blake beamed.  He clapped Sean on the back, nearly bowling the half vampire over, collected a few of the blankets, and quickly entered the room.

Adam was dressed and standing at the edge of the bed.  Their three newborn lycan infants were lying in the center of the bed, freshly changed, well fed, and yawning sleepily.  Adam accepted the first blanket and inexpertly started to swaddle the first infant.  Blake’s newest general and second in command was exemplary on the battlefield, but appeared to be losing the battle with the blanket.  “Ben tried to show me, but I still suck at this,” he grumbled.  “How do parents swaddle their babies so easily?”

“You’ll get it eventually, Adam, in time,” Blake called, expertly swaddling a second infant.  Adam glared at him in irritation, and he chose to ignore it.  “Personally, I’m kind of glad there’s only three,” the alpha continued.  “Probably due to the suppressants, but at least we know you’re not barren.”

“And I am never ever doing this again!” Adam declared.  “Pregnancy sucked and labor was worse.  I’m not doing it again!”

“Of course not.”  Blake had heard this before.  Just last month, Patrick was screaming it at Pharrell while he had their pups.  The month before that, Sherry was doing the same thing to Christina.  And this morning, after visiting with Adam, they were both already speaking fondly about their next litters.  Omegas!

Both parents paused, staring at the third infant.  The only one in the litter who wasn’t a beta, the baby lycan’s snowy white fur would soon be the subject of endless talk, both among their own kind and the Druids.  But the new parents had yet to talk about it.  Blake cleared his throat.  “You know, he’ll be just fine,” he assured.  “If Sean can help me control the Beast, he can help our son…”

“Daughter, Blake,” Adam corrected.  “I told you this twice now.”

“Daughter, right.”  Blake’s eyes were bleary from lack of sleep.  Adam’s labor had lasted for over two days, but he’d still managed to sleep during much of it.  Blake was a different story.  He’d hovered anxiously over his mate from the minute Adam’s contractions had begun, then he’d hovered lovingly over his mate and his infants.  As a result, he’d been awake now for three days straight.  “Anyway, he can help our daughter learn to control hers, too.  And someday, she’ll make a fine Pack Alpha.”

“That will be a little hard, Blake,” Adam sighed.  “I’m fairly certain I told you this, too, but you clearly don’t remember.”

“Told me what?”

“She’s an omega!”

Blake blinked at Adam.  Then he looked down at his white furred omega daughter.  “A berserking omega?” he wondered.  And then he began to laugh.

A moment later, Adam’s laughter joined his.  And lying between them, the tiny omega berserker yawned again before falling back into whatever dream came to infants.