Chapter 10 #2
Falk didn’t hesitate to reach into the bag of new clothes and pull out the soft, burnt-orange sweater and rub it against his neck.
Ren watched, jaw hanging open as Falk scented the fabric before handing it back.
The Omega merchant looked like he was going to combust, face red.
“Better?” Falk asked. He didn’t even seem to notice the poor man they were flustering.
Ren lifted it to his nose for a moment and muttered, “Fine.”
Once he was properly changed, Falk had wrestled the old, dirty clothes from his hands to throw it into the trash.
Ren yelled at him the entire time for stealing and even trying to reach into the bin to fish them out.
Falk smacked at his hands and turned him so they could continue down the hall.
Ren’s arms were crossed tightly over his chest as he walked beside Falk with an extra foot of space in between them.
“Stop being difficult,” Falk repeated after a few minutes of walking in silence.
“You took my things,” Ren grumbled.
“They were mine,” Falk argued.
“Yeah, well, you gave them to me and?—”
“Hey, Falk!”
Ren flinched and immediately eliminated the space between himself and Falk.
He cowered into Falk’s side at the sound of such a loud, deep voice.
Falk turned, not fazed at all, and raised an eyebrow as three Alphas waved at him and came over to greet him.
Ren recognized one of them—the redhead woman from when he woke up in the infirmary—and tucked himself behind Falk.
His fingers found the hem of Falk’s shirt, holding onto him like a lifeline.
“What?” Falk questioned, tone cold.
“We just wanted to see the Omega.” One of them laughed, peeking around Falk to be able to see Ren better. “Ney told us about him weeks ago.”
Ren wrinkled his nose up at the man. The group of them smelled like a disgusting, strange concoction of yeast and dirt and cilantro—Ren hated cilantro.
“At least he looks a bit cleaner now,” the redhead woman—Ney—said, nose scrunching. “He still smells awful, though.”
“There is nothing to see or smell here,” Falk said, words sharp. “Please, continue on your way.”
“He’s cute,” another one of them said, moving around Falk to get a glimpse of Ren.
Falk moved, turning on his heel and reaching back with one hand so Ren stayed behind him. “Do not treat him like he is some sort of?—”
“We really couldn’t believe it when Ney told us,” cilantro-man interrupted Falk. “No one ever thought we’d see the day when Warrior Falk was soft for an Omega—especially enough to take guardianship of one.”
“Yeah, what. Did you get to lay with him in the prison during all those nights you were down there?” The other man laughed.
“Or did you?—”
Ren’s heartbeat was too loud in his ears, his pulse crashing like ocean waves.
His fingers tightened around Falk’s shirt, not wanting to let go—scared of what would happen if he did.
He could see the Alphas’ lips moving, could see them laughing with their jeers, but everything in his mind was too loud to hear their words.
He didn’t need to though—he could see exactly what they were saying by the looks in their eyes.
All Alphas were exactly the same—Ren had heard the comments before, had seen those looks before, had felt the same fear trickling through his veins before.
He only noticed he was trembling when his vision cleared, when he could focus on his hands gripping Falk’s shirt so hard, he thought he might tear it. His hands shook violently, tremors snaking up his veins from his fingertips.
Ren couldn’t keep doing this. He couldn’t freeze every time he interacted with an Alpha. But the last time he did something about how Alphas treated him, he got life sentence in prison.
Ren turned on his heel and ran.
Ren’s breath was too loud, his heaving chest painfully as he ran. He didn’t know where he was going—didn’t know this wing of the castle at all. Suddenly, it was all too big, too grand—there were too many places he could run, too many people around, too many Alphas.
Ren gasped, almost falling over his own feet and needing to catch himself with one of his hands as he took a corner hard. The hallway he found was mostly empty beside the smell of Omegas—their sweet scents overpowering whatever Alphas might be around.
Ren yelped as he suddenly hit a solid object.
He fell hard on his hip, whining at the pain flaring in his bones. Another person gasped and fell as well. An angry Alpha voice cut through all of the racing in his head, yelling, “What in gods’ name is going on?”
Ren blinked when he actually recognized the Alpha.
Mont was on his knee, helping another Omega to sit up.
His tone was soft as he whispered to her.
The Omega scowled at Ren, eyes narrowed, as Mont helped her up.
She would probably be quite pretty if she didn’t look like she wanted to rip Ren’s head off, with deep umber skin and short, defined curls.
Her eyes were startlingly bright, almost gold rather than brown.
“Ren!”
Ren looked over his shoulder and saw Falk racing toward them.
Mont finally turned to him at the call of the familiar name, confusion etching onto his face. “Ren?” he echoed, getting to his feet immediately. “What are you doing here?” Falk was panting as he stopped in front of the three of them. “Did he try to escape again?”
“No.” Falk shook his head quickly. “He isn’t a prisoner anymore. He?—”
“This is the Omega prisoner?” the Omega asked.
Falk helped him up and Ren smiled sheepishly at her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t see you?—”
“Why is he out of his cell?” Mont asked, arm tight around the Omega’s waist. Ren wanted to giggle at how much taller the Omega was than her Alpha.
“I… I took guardianship of him,” Falk explained.
“You what?” Mont questioned.
“Where are we?” Ren asked, noticing the faces popping out of doorways, checking to see what was going on.
“This is the maternity wing,” Falk said. “This is where all Omegas stay during their pregnancies and then for about a year afterwards. It’s also where the children who are too young to be alone are taken care of while their parents work.”
“Oh,” Ren whispered, gaze moving to the Omega’s stomach. He couldn’t see anything, but he knew how long it took for a bump to appear and a pregnancy to become so real you couldn’t ignore it.
The Omega wrapped an arm around her waist, glaring at Ren until he raised his eyes. “It’s rude to stare,” the Wolf snapped.
“Flory,” Mont murmured, squeezing her waist.
Ren wondered what it meant when Falk moved to put his hand on Ren’s hip, almost perfectly mirroring the couple standing in front of them. Their mating marks peeked out of the collar of their shirts. “I’m sorry?” he said helplessly, looking to Falk who stroked his hip reassuringly.
“Well, this isn’t the best introduction, but,” Falk said. “Ren, you already know Mont,” he said, pointing to the Alpha who dipped his head at Ren in acknowledgement. “This is his mate, Flory,” Falk said slowly
“Flory,” Ren echoed. He dipped his head slightly in greeting, “Nice to meet?—”
“Why did you take guardianship of him?” Mont asked over him. “He’s a murderer, Falk. I understand wanting to go easy on him because he’s an Omega, but he killed five Alphas. He’s dangerous, why would you do this to yourself?”
“He’s not.” Falk shook his head. “He’s…” Falk had the same look on his face Ren could never figure out. “He’s gone through a lot.”
“A lot of people are going through things. They don’t murder people,” Flory pointed out.
Falk fell silent, not having a response to Flory’s words. The four of them stood in silence, waiting for someone to say something. Ren decided to speak up, bowing his head as he said, “It was nice to meet you, Flory. I guess I’ll see both of you around now.”
Flory eyed him warily and Ren didn’t miss how Mont squeezed her waist.
Falk’s arm tightened in a similar way around Ren as he turned him away and practically dragged him back down the hallway.
After several tense minutes of only the sound of their footsteps on stone, Falk asked, “Why did you run? Before, when we were walking in the hall together. Why did you run away?”
Ren paused, trying to find the words, “I didn’t like how those Alphas before were looking at me.”
“Do you not think I was handling it?”
Ren peered up at Falk—the tiny difference between their heights always felt far greater. “I don’t know,” Ren said after a moment. “I… panicked.”
“You said you trust me,” Falk said slowly. “So, you need to trust I’m going to keep you safe, Ren.” Ren pursed his lips, unable to find the words to respond.
Ren didn’t like Falk being mad at him, didn’t like the strange air that hung between them as they finished their errands around the castle. Ren was tired down to his bones by the time they hiked up the stairs again to Falk’s chambers.
He groaned as he collapsed face down on the bed, burying his nose in the soft sheets and getting a long, strong whiff of cloves and smoke.
Ren should have been embarrassed by the noise he let out—a little too close to a moan—as he wrapped himself around one of the pillows and buried his face so far into it, he could barely breathe.
“Come, let’s get you cleaned up before you stink up my bed,” Falk said, patting him on the leg.
Ren glared but got up with a huff and followed Falk into the bathroom.
The Alpha turned on the faucets for the tub and streams of water filled the porcelain. It looked heavenly, Ren’s mouth filled with saliva like it was a perfectly cooked piece of meat rather than a tub of water.
“Come, ready yourself for a bath,” Falk said, waving a hand vaguely at him.
Ren blinked at him before he looked down at his clothing. He picked at the hem of his sweater. “I’ll undress once you leave.”
Falk stared at him for a second. “I’m not going to leave, Ren.”
“What?” Ren questioned.