chapter 5: Ryan

The omega's scream echoed around me and had me instantly backtracking to him. I had no idea what had found him, but clearly it was bad news. I sneak up behind the area we had made camp. From my spot behind a tree, I could see a man pinning the omega down. I growl softly as I pull my sword. I slowly move behind the man and stab straight through his chest. I can hear him choke on his own blood and I can feel him go limp, sliding off my sword and onto the struggling omega. He screams again and I lift the body off of him. He was splattered in blood and was crying loudly. I wipe the blood from my sword and resheath it before kneeling next to the omega.

"Are you okay?" he whimpers and shakes his head. He slowly sits up and gathers his limbs to his chest.

"He-he forced me t-to take… take some pill," he whispers, eyes blown wide in fear. I curse softly and grip his chin.

"Open," I ordered. Slowly, his lips part. The moment they're open, I shove my fingers into his mouth and down his throat. He gags softly and tries to pull away.

"Stay," I growl and he instantly stills. I move my fingers against his gag reflex, he continues to make the sounds of gagging, but nothing comes up.

"Fuck," I snarl as I pull my fingers out. I scoot away as he begins to cough and dry heave. But still, nothing comes up. I grab the omega and stand.

"Let's go," he goes lax in my arms and starts crying again. I grab my blanket and out bags before running through the woods. There was a village a few miles from where we were, I knew a doctor there that could help. I needed to get him there as fast as I could, time was not on our side. Nox grips my shirt tightly and whimpers.

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay," I whisper, trying to comfort him as I continue to run. I was lucky the omega didn't weigh much, or this would've been a lot more difficult.

We must've run for hours before we finally came across the village I was searching for. The sun was slowly rising behind us and I was breathing heavily as I approached the doctor's home. The omega had fallen asleep at some point, so I had to do a weird shuffle to free a hand to knock loudly on the doctor's door. Movement instantly sounds from inside. Moments later I am met with the face of the angered doctor.

"Do you have any idea what…oh," he pauses as he sees the sleeping omega. He steps back and waves us inside. "What happened?"

"We were attacked and someone force fed him something. I don't know what it was and I couldn't get him to spit it up," the doctor tsks.

"Wake him up," he says as he leads me to a sterile room. I set the omega on the hard bed and shake him awake. His eyes slowly blink open and begin to search the area around him.

"Alpha," he croaks, hands lifting towards me. I gently press them to the bed.

"Stay still, this doctor is going to look you over," at the words he instantly tries to sit up.

"No," he yells, struggling against me as I try to keep him on the bed.

"Stop it, you need to be seen. That pill could kill you, do you want that?" I snarl. He stills on the bed and begins to cry. "Stop that," the words only make him cry harder. The doctor steps up to the omega with a soft sigh.

"Hello, little one. My name is Kero, I'm a friend of your alpha. I promise not to hurt you," Kero offers his wrist to the omega. "I'm a beta, so you don't have to worry about that aspect. What's your name?" The omega gently takes his wrist and inhales the neutral scent.

"N-Nox," he whispers, slowly calming down. Kero nods.

"Ryan, will you wait in the living room, I don't want you upsetting Nox," I stiffen at the idea of leaving the omega, but I quickly remind myself I trusted Kero. Besides, Nox wasn't mine. I nod and leave the room, Nox's big eyes on me the entire time.

I sit nervously on the small couch and watch the sun rise. I could smell Nox just in the other room and my alpha wanted desperately to go check on him.

"Ryan," Kero says from behind me. I stand and spin to face him.

"What did you find?"

"The pill was a heat inducer. Nox is going into heat," I can feel my lower body taking interest at the words.

"How long?" I question, ignoring my body.

"A day, max," Kero sighs softly. "He's asleep now, but when he wakes you're going to have to talk about how you'll handle the heat. He told me about you returning him, so I won't ask you to aid him during his heat," Kero moves past me to sit down.

"Kero, you know I can't keep him," I say softly. The doctor lights a cigarette and takes a long drag.

"No, I don't know that," he grumbles as he leans against the plush backing, head falling to the top of the couch, stretching out the large scar on his throat.

"He deserves better. I wasn't raised to care for an omega or pups. I don't know anything the average alpha knows. I would be ruining his life to keep him," Kero shakes his head.

"You don't have to know, you can learn as you go. I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching either. Besides, your instincts are already strong," he sighs again. "But, I'm not here to convince you of anything. Talk with him when he wakes, I'm going out. I'm supposed to check on another patient today. I'll be back before nightfall," with that, Kero stands and leaves. I groan and lean back, thinking over everything Kero had said.

Damn it.