Chapter 7 #4
Sometimes he wondered why the royal family kept him in this prison rather than having a separate place for Omega prisoners.
He knew how many issues his presence here caused.
Considering all of the other prisoners were Alphas, when they went into their ruts, his scent drove them nearly mad until the point of aggression, forcing the guards to sedate them. Ren felt bad every time it happened.
The scent of an Omega was already pleasing to an Alpha. To an Alpha in rut, it was like a drug.
But the scent of an unmated Omega nearing his prime? Of course the smell was bound to cause some problems.
“I’m fine,” Falk said shortly.
“You don’t look fine,” Ren shot back.
“Leave it, Ren!”
Ren flinched back, eyes round at Falk’s shout. Falk had snapped at him plenty of times, had been angry with him, had even scolded him, but he had never raised his voice at him.
Ren quickly took several quick steps away from the bars, putting space between himself and the angry Alpha.
Falk groaned, running a hand over his face, “I’m sorry, Ren, but please. Just leave me alone.”
Ren swallowed hard. He sat heavily on his mattress, heart pounding in his chest as he watched the Alpha.
His hands shook as flashes of memories passed through his mind.
The last time he’d had to deal with Alphas in their rut, it didn’t exactly end well.
He knew Falk, knew he wouldn’t hurt him, but he was also hyper aware of the fact that Falk held the keys to Ren’s cell.
He could get in whenever he wanted, but Ren could never get out.
He felt more trapped than he had in a long time.
Ren could feel Falk watching him. He felt like a helpless creature being hunted by a real wolf and he kept having to remind himself he had been able to fight off Alphas before.
It must have been several hours later when Ren suddenly smelled a fresh, shockingly strong wave of scent from Falk. Ren glanced up from the book he had started reading, and a moment later Falk groaned loudly.
Ren sat up, watching the Alpha whose face grimaced with pain, his elbows balanced on his knees as his head hung down between his shoulders. His hands clasped together like he was trying to hold onto himself, veins popping in his forearms.
Ren scooted back as slowly as he could until he felt the stark chill of the wall against his back. His voice was quiet when he said, “Falk… you should go.”
He was expecting Falk to argue, to yell at him again. But after a moment, Falk nodded and stood up. “A new guard will be down soon,” he said, voice gruff.
Ren’s pulse was still rabbiting in his throat when another Wolf came down to take Falk’s place.
Ren smiled at the Omega. He was usually the one who came to check on Ren at nighttime. He hadn’t seen the Wolf in quite a while, always fast asleep when he was on duty.
The Omega was tall and pretty almost to a fault. Ren would have assumed someone with such a pretty face would be more confident, but he was quite timid, and always refused to make eye contact with Ren.
But today, Ren needed answers.
“Is Falk okay?”
The Omega flinched before looking over to Ren. “Sorry?” he asked.
“Falk,” Ren repeated, waving a hand vaguely, “is he alright?”
“Y-yes… Warrior Falk is fine. He will be unable to attend to you for a few days though.”
“Are you going to be taking over for him the entire time, then?”
The man stuttered, “Y-yes…”
Ren smiled as he pulled himself to his feet. The Omega cowered back when Ren walked over to the cell bars.“What is your name?”
The Omega stuttered out his answer, “You… you don’t need to know that.”
“Ah, come on, I don’t want to be impolite and just say ‘hey you’ when you could simply tell me your name,” Ren said.
The Omega hesitated before sighing out a, “It’s… Des.”
“Des,” Ren echoed. “And how did you get the short end of the stick? I didn’t think Omegas were allowed to do Warriors’ duties.”
“We aren’t supposed to,” Des shook his head.
“But… the previous King decided it would be important for an Omega to know how things down here work because of you. After those other Alphas were fired from this position, they asked me to take over so I would know how to handle you when things like this happen, when Warrior Falk is unable to tend to you.”
“Wow, I really do get special treatment, don’t I?” Ren laughed.
Des’s gaze flitted around anxiously as he whispered, “I think the King was a bit… scared of what could happen if you were left in the hands of a guard who didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Where were you during my heat?” Ren asked with a pout. “I would have preferred an Omega down here rather than Falk watching me. It was awful and embarrassing.”
Des blinked. “I… am supposed to be down here during your heats,” he said slowly. “Warrior Falk didn’t tell us you were in heat.”
“Did you not come down here at all during that time?” Ren asked. “Don’t you come check on me at night time?”
“I do, yes,” Des nodded. “But… Falk has insisted on being down here a lot more than usual. A normal shift is supposed to be about eight or ten hours—he’s usually down here for closer to fifteen or sixteen nowadays. So, I haven’t needed to come down since you are asleep the rest of the time.”
Ren eyebrows furrowed. “Why is he down here so much?”
“He says he feels like he needs to be,” Des shrugged.
Ren tucked the information away for later; he would have to ask Falk about it the next time he saw him.