Chapter Text
Doyle was making his way again to the restaurant, planning on eating the briefest of meals before buying something to bring back for constable Stratton. He hadn't walked far before he heard someone coming up behind him. There was no need to turn to look and see who it was. He already knew.
It was as if the omega was doing this to him on purpose for his slight. Coming to a stop, he waited until Houdini reached him before turning on his heels to face the younger man.
"Are you following me because you're waiting for an apology? Is that it? Well then, I'm sorry for not staying and attending you and that your little omega feelings were hurt. If it honestly affected you so much, why didn't you go find some other alpha's bed to climb into? Why hang around me? I honestly couldn't have made that good of an impression seeing how I left you three times," Doyle said in a low voice.
At first, the alpha's words stung, and Houdini was about to fire back at him. What kind of an apology was this? Then the man started throwing out questions, ones Harry was a bit embarrassed to answer out in public.
It was true, Doyle did walk out on him three times during Harry's heat, and each time Harry was devastated and pinning the loss of his alpha. He knew though that it was selfish of him to keep the man to himself when he had another life and children waiting for him to return home. His body would automatically now respond to the doctor, whether he liked it or not. He craved the moments he had with him and found that he was beginning to touch himself while visualizing the doctor in his head. At night he'd wake up from hot wet dreams and moan Doyle's name in want.
Harry looked away to hide his blush. This wasn't him! He was the Great Harry Houdini! The male omega who didn't need an alpha to be happy. He had everything he wanted... he at least thought that when his mother was with him. It was still partially the case until he met the doctor.
"Honestly, I don't know what I hoped to accomplish by following you around with officer Stratton. To prove myself to you that I'm not some average omega who was a one-time thing. That what we had I really want more than anything else," Harry stuck his hands self-consciously in his pockets, "I know you have a family, and that there is probably no room in your life, or in heart, for me," he finally looked up at the alpha pleadingly, "but can't you at least let me try to prove you wrong and show you that what we have is worth exploring too?"
Doyle studied the young omega closely and could smell the nervous uncertainty coming off him.
"What happened to you wanting to be an unbonded omega who called all the shots in the relationship?"
Houdini knew that he was about to give up his freedom to this man if he would take him, this frightened him a little, but he knew he wanted this.
"I find that my desire to be with you is a little more important to lose."
Doyle stood there, weighing his options all the while watching the young omega who waited anxiously for his response. It wasn't normal for an omega to initiate something so significant as a request for a bond without being under the persuasion of being in heat. Harry was in his right mind...or at least as far as Doyle could detect.
Instead of answering he turned around and began walking, "I'm hungry."
Harry just stood there in confused shock. Was this a dismissal of his request? After he made himself completely vulnerable to the man. It was humiliating!
He could just imagine the papers getting ahold of a juicy story like this.
The Great Escapist finally wants to put himself in an unbinding bond only to be rejected!
The Great Houdini, the elusive unbonded omega has surrendered himself to the Creator of the Great Detective: Did he deduce his feelings all along?
"You coming, Harry?" asked Doyle over his shoulder.
Houdini snapped himself out of his musings and jogged to catch up with the older man. Looking up to see if he could catch the man's expression on his face, he saw a slight smile.
Harry felt his heart skip. Maybe him not saying anything didn't mean 'no' after all.
Instead of being able to relax with this knowledge, he became more excited.
Doyle silently observed the man beside him as the omega grew excited with every passing minute. It was hard not to feel the effects of it. It was infectious, and suddenly he had the desire to pull the younger man into an alley and take him there on the street.
Controlling himself, they made it to the restaurant without incident.
There was an agreement, that Doyle would give their relationship a try, but with the condition that it remain a secret. Not only for Harry's reputation but for Doyle's children. Houdini wasn't sure how they would go about it, but he accepted it. Once or... if they bonded, it would soon become public knowledge that there was someone in the escape artist's life. After that it would be touch and go, to keep Doyle's identity a secret.
Houdini walked into Scotland Yard two days later to see both Doyle and Stratton preparing to leave. The smile he had walked in with disappeared and he became serious, "What's happened? Another murder? A supposed ghost?"
"An abduction," Stratton explained, "Happened in a small town called Nethermoor. Witness says it was aliens. Merring is sending us."
Harry looked at the pair of them, "And by 'us' you mean Doyle and you while I stay behind."
"Don't you have shows to do instead? I had figured you'd be busy," Doyle spoke up.
"Seriously? Is that the reason, or is it something else entirely because you know I can move show dates."
"Merring suggested you stay behind," Adelaide explained, "For your safety, Harry. He can't ensure your safety out there."
"Nor could he here on the London streets. However, he's okay with sending a female officer and a guy who isn't a cop to go investigate," Harry growled in irritation, puffing up his chest.
Doyle sighed, knowing leaving Houdini behind was now impossible. The whole case reeked of danger and prejudices, and he didn't want Harry to get mixed up in them.
"If you want to go then it seems like neither of us will stop you," he finally said.
Harry perked up with seeming to have won his point.
The train ride to Nethermoor was uneventful. Harry waited until after Adelaide left their little compartment to switch seats to sit next to Doyle and reach up to wrap his hand around his neck to pull him closer. The kiss lasts a few seconds before Doyle pulled the omega away.
"What's happening right now? You can't be going into heat. It ended only a week ago," Doyle frowned in confusion.
"Can't I want to receive attention from my alpha?" Harry asked coyly.
The doctor rolled his eyes and shifted away, pulling out a newspaper to read.
"Is that why you came along; for attention? Afraid I'd give it to someone else and neglect you."
Houdini propped his chin up with his hand, balancing his arm on the narrow ledge by the door, "I'm feeling pretty neglected right now."
"Well, what do you expect from me, Harry? To just use every moment we're alone to..." Doyle stopped himself and returned his attention to the newspaper.
Frowning, Houdini poked at the back of the paper three times before Doyle lowered it again.
"All I'm asking is that you at least try to reciprocate and not act so cold. Is that too much?"
"You’re here aren't you?" Doyle said, as if that was explanation enough, "I didn't want you to come, that's why I told Constable Stratton not to contact you, but since you showed up anyway and demanded to join, I agreed."
"Why didn't you want me to come?"
"For the exact reasons Merring gave, it's not safe."
"We chase after murders and nearly drowned in our first case. Hell, I do shows that aren't safe all the time. That's hardly a good excuse--"
"Because I don't want anything to happen to you, you idiot. There, satisfied?"
Harry dipped his head in a blush before remembering that he needed to remind his alpha that he was capable of taking care of himself, "I'll be fine, doc. If it makes you feel better, I promise not to do anything foolish."
The sound of Stratton returning had Houdini move back to his seat and look as if he was interested in his fingernails while Doyle went back to his paper.
Adelaide wasn't going to ruin their charade by stating that she knew what was going on. All she cared about was their happiness, and at the current moment, she wasn't sure that either was much happy.
"Did I miss something?"
"Talking about the Cricket," Doyle threw out.
She looked over to Houdini who tried to remain nonchalant.
"Didn't know you were interested in the sport."
"Yeah well, it was mostly a one-sided conversation," he murmured before giving his attention to the passing scenery outside their window.
The people of Nethermoor were gathered outside the jail with an exasperated constable keeping them from breaking inside. They shouted derogatory words and demanded access to the prisoner.
Harry, to Doyle's continued vexation, spoke up to the crowd, gaining their attention.
A lot of the men standing in the crowd were alphas, a few betas in the mix. Doyle stood protectively beside Houdini as the other alphas sized up the unbonded omega with hungry eyes.
The crowd dispersed luckily, and they went inside to speak to the prisoner/witness.
The black man was a beta whose wife was one of the alphas in town's niece. Apparently, he wasn't considered good enough for the omega woman, being black and an average beta. This frustrated Harry, who suddenly began to take the man's side of the situation. Though the possibility of aliens had drawn Doyle out here in the first place, he was now convinced that that was not the case after examining the beta. The man had a sick smell to him and though it was harmless, the doctor didn't like having Harry exposed to it for so long.
After hearing the story from the woman outside of town and then heading out to do a scan of the area where it occurred, the trio decided it was time to eat something before going to bed. As they waited for their keys to their rooms, Doyle watched the rest of the room openly stare at their table.
The owner of the place came back with only two keys, saying only two rooms were available. Adelaide just picked up one of the keys, claiming a room to herself, leaving the men to share.
As they were about to get ready to turn in for the night, an alpha approached them, drunk and angry, spewing insults towards them and the beta.
Harry bristled at the offense and actually called the man out for a fight. The guy's friends goaded him to throw a punch.
Houdini stood there, not bothering to dodge the blow that came straight for his face. Doyle was on his feet in an instant giving a low growl of anger. Stratton too was on her feet in anger. Harry put his hand up, holding his friends back, wanting to fight his own battle.
Sniffing and turning back to his opponent, he leveled him a glare.
"My turn," he said before throwing the first punch and then another. He dodges the man's attack and began to repeatedly hit the man's abdomen and face until the man was unconscious on the floor. Harry was still going at it. Doyle pulled the omega up off the man and kept himself between the rest of the room and the young man.
Harry had too much energy after the fight, doing push-ups in front of the bed while Doyle watched.
"Do you want to talk about what just happened back there?" asked Doyle patiently.
"Nope," came the breathless quick reply.
"Seems like you weren't just fighting that man because he called you a loose omega or that you were a jew."
Harry got up to his feet, sweat lightly glistening his exposed back, "What would you have me say, Doyle? Yeah, he set me off and beat him up for it, but he threw the first punch and what I did could be considered self-defense. Merring said he was worried about me going cause of my safety. I think I proved tonight that I can protect myself, even from drunken alphas."
Doyle allowed Harry to speak, not interrupting him as the omega walked around the room, cleaning the sweat that had accumulated during his quick exercise before putting on his shirt.
"Well if there is anything you'd like to talk about, I'm here, Harry."
Houdini paused where he stood to turn off the overhead lamp. He gave a weak smile in thanks before turning it off and climbing into bed beside Doyle.
Long arms wrapped around the young omega and Harry inhaled happily the husky smell of the alpha who was holding him.
He fisted the nightshirt the older man was wearing, wishing he could rip it off so he could run his hands over the doctor's bare chest.
Their lips met and Houdini moaned in pleasure, sitting up to straddle the alpha while he was on his back.
"Harry, though I admire your enthusiasm and energy, we do have an early and possibly long day ahead of us tomorrow," Doyle said, breaking the kiss.
Houdini threw his head back and groaned up at the ceiling before rolling off to the side.
"Seriously you love to kill a moment don't you."
"And you, my friend, love to seize the moment at every opportunity," Arthur rolled his eyes and reached for his smoking pipe.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Houdini stopped him, "If I can't get any, you can't smoke in here."
"Is that how it's going to be?"
"I believe it is," Harry rolled over.
Doyle rolled his eyes and pushed himself out of bed to go outside to smoke his pipe.
He stood outside, enjoying the crisp fresh air when out of the corner of his eye he saw something moving on the bridge up yonder. Taking his pipe out of his mouth, he frowned and moved in that direction. He didn't get a good look at it before because it was so dark, and he wished that he had brought out a candle, so he could see.
Squinting in the dark, there was nothing on the bridge or on either side. After a couple minutes, he figured it was just a wild animal dashing through the forest. It was at that moment when he turned to go back that he saw it. His eyes grew big in fear as pale creatures with sunken in eyes dressed in rags moved towards him with their arms stretched out.