Chapter Text
She awoke to the taste of rubber and a pill being shoved down her throat.
Lumine bit down on the gloved hand in her mouth as her eyes flew open. Il Dottore gave her a demented grin in response, his fingers remaining in her mouth till she finally choked down the pill he’d tried to give her.
“Fascinante,” Dottore mumbled to himself as he shook his head and stepped back. “I thought you’d be asleep a little while longer, but you continue to surprise me.”
She lunged at him, but he didn’t even flinch, just laughing when she felt herself get yanked backwards. Now she noticed the all-too-familiar cuffs still around her wrists, as well as the chains attaching them to the wall. Her eyes narrowed as she tested the limits with one hand, growling in frustration at how little slack she had been given.
Forced to accept that she would get nowhere tugging at her chain, Lumine growled, “What the fuck did you just give me?”
The so-called doctor was bent over a piece of paper and made a point to finish scribbling down whatever he was writing before straightening up and offering her a satisfied grin. “Just something to help with the next stage of our little experiment. You didn’t think your responsibilities were finished just yet, did you?”
“You bastard.”
“Hush, ma petite monstre.” He sounded playful enough, but the way his red eyes flashed was warning enough. “Your body…c’est une chose merveilleuse. I knew you’d be important in my research, but even I couldn’t have anticipated just how crucial a part you’d play.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Dottore hummed for a moment, stroking his chin. “What indeed?”
Her eyebrows furrowed, a snarl tugging at her lips. “If you fucking touched me—”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I would never consider taking Eleven’s sloppy seconds.” The laughter that followed was harsh, almost grating. “Besides, I doubt a Beta like me could elicit these kinds of results.”
Lumine tugged at her chains again, her rage building. “What results?” Her question was delivered as calmly as she could manage, but her pheromones were spiking.
“Is your Alpha coming out to play finally?” Lumine froze at his words.
He can smell you too. Every other thought dulled as the fury enveloped her thoughts. He’s going to take it away again. He will make you weak. Stop him. Hurt him. Rip him open. Stop him!
“No” She all but screamed the word as he turned back to her. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
He wasn’t listening. Her scent was overwhelming, screaming at him to get away, and yet he kept stepping closer. How could he be entirely unaffected? Her body tensed as she bared her teeth at him. Still he stepped closer, close enough that he could reach her, that she could reach him —
Her body uncoiled as she lunged forward, grabbing his arm and twisting. There was something feral about the way she dug her nails into him, something primal in her satisfaction at the feeling of warm blood against her fingers. If he could bleed, he could die.
“I’ll kill you.” It wasn’t a threat—just a promise.
Anger marred the little of his face she could see, and she reveled in it.
Then he sprung forward, just as quickly as she had before. Something pressed against her mouth and nose as he slammed her head against the wall and held it there. She grunted, releasing his arm as her head began to pound. Her hands trembled as she reached her arms up and clumsily tried to get whatever he was holding against her face.
It didn’t budge; if anything, he only pressed it even harder against her face, till she was forced to all but inhale the fabric itself when she tried to breath. Dully she recognized it was a cape, a deep red cape she could’ve sworn she recognized—
Her eyes widened, and suddenly her attempts to pry it off grew more frantic even as they weakened. Dottore barely seemed to notice, holding Childe’s cape in place as she choked on the other Alpha’s scent. Lumine felt dizzy, her body beginning to grow warm. Eyes watering, she looked up at the doctor’s face only to see it twisted with perverse pleasure. He was enjoying watching her struggle, and she couldn’t even do anything about it.
And yet, there was a heat building between her legs. She squirmed, pressing her thighs against each other as her breathing quickened.
Dottore’s gaze flicked down to the movement before he pulled the cape off. Immediately she began gulping down air, desperate to get Tartaglia’s scent out of her mind. All the while he watched, lips curling into a satisfied smirk as he jotted something else down on his papers.
“You look a little flushed, Traveler.”
She barely heard the words. There was something wrong with her, with her scent. Her distress and rage had mingled with something she’d never smelled on an Alpha before, something akin to desperation and neediness—as if begging someone to come closer, not ordering them to get away.
“What…did you do to me?” She whined a little, her hands itching to do something to sate the fire that consumed every part of her.
“How much do you know about heat inducers, ma petite monstre?”
“Enough to know they only work on Omegas. So what, you made one to use on Alphas? Like the scent blockers?” Lumine let her hands curl into fists, digging her fingers into her palms as a slight distraction. She could handle something like that, no matter how shameful it felt.
But Dottore shook his head, grinning down at her. “Not a bad guess, but no. No, that pill was made for Omegas, just like any other.” He hummed, drumming his fingers against his papers. “I didn’t think it was going to work, but turns out you just needed the right motivation.”
She didn’t understand, couldn’t understand. “What are you trying to say?”
“Do Alphas go into heat?” He waited for a moment, looking at her expectantly till she finally shook her head.
“No.”
“That’s right. And do Betas?”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.”
He ignored her, instead asking again, “Do Betas go into heat?”
“No.” She spat the word.
“Such a smart girl! Très bien, très bien.” He laughed, offering her mocking applause. “What, then, does that make you?”
“That…that’s impossible. I’m an Alpha—”
“No, you were an Alpha. Now, well…you aren’t quite an Omega, but you’re certainly not an Alpha or Beta.”
“That’s impossible,” she repeated. “People don’t just change between them!”
The Harbinger in front of her cackled this time, grin twisting to become almost maniacal. “You’re right! Regular people don’t just change between them. But you, ma petite monstre—there’s nothing regular about you.”
Lumine thrashed against her chains, struggling to breath as she shook her head. “You bastard. What did you do to me? What did you fucking do?”
But he ignored her, spinning on his heel and waving a hand towards the door. “Bring him in, bring him in!”
She spent what felt like an eternity staring at that door, wondering who was going to step through, willing it to stay shut. In reality, it was only a minute before it opened. She knew all too well who would step through, but that didn’t stop her heart from pounding as black boots came into view. Her eyes skimmed over his body, drinking in the various glimpses of skin as she pressed her thighs even tighter against each other. Something awoke at the sight of him, hungry and wanting, and she felt herself burn even hotter than before.
It was his blue eyes that finally sobered her, dragging her out of the haze she’d begun to slip into. “Childe.” His name sounded strangled as it slipped from her lips.
He froze for a moment, his hands seeming to almost tremble at his sides.
“What the Akademiya would say if they could see me now—if they’d only known back then what I’d go on to uncover.” Dottore gloated before waving the ginger Harbinger closer. “Come now, Eleven. Her Majesty is eager for us to continue the process.”
Lumine’s breaths were quick and unsteady, her body shaking. “No—”
“Ta gueule. Remember our deal.” The blue-haired man snapped, and she quieted, tears burning the corners of her eyes.
Tartaglia eyed her for a moment, expression unreadable, before looking at Dottore. “What did you do to her? Her scent…” He trailed off, eyes flicking back to her.
“If we’re going to place the blame on anyone, Tartaglia, it should fall to you.” The doctor chuckled. “You are, after all, the one that started ‘bitching’ her.”
“Bitching?”
“That’s what I’ve decided to call it—I think you’ll find it appropriate.”
The ginger’s jaw twitched. “What does it mean?”
“As I understand it, as an Outlander, it wasn’t until she was in this world that our ‘Hero of Teyvat’ presented. It seems that she had some unconscious control of what she presented as: upon arrival, her body recognized the optimal way to survive was as an Alpha and so took on those characteristics. But since our little experiment, her biology has started shifting. It would seem that by removing her scent and placing her in a scenario where it was “wrong” because she was an Alpha, her body took initiative in an attempt to account for that.”
Her heart was pounding. The world was titling around her. She curled in on herself, retching, but there was nothing in her stomach to puke. No matter how much air she sucked in, it wasn’t enough, and she gasped for air, desperate to fill her lungs. Nothing Dottore was saying made sense. None of this made any goddamn sense . What he was saying was impossible. Someone would’ve told her if it was possible. Because if what he was saying was true, had he—had he—
“You made her an Omega?” There was a slight anger in Childe’s words, his pheromones growing stronger.
Lumine squirmed, wetting her lips as she stared at him. Her anger was clear in her scent, but the smell of him was warping it into something else. An Alpha, something in her preened. There is an Alpha for you. She didn’t want him—it wasn’t right—and yet there was a need in her that she couldn’t settle.
Dottore stood seemingly unphased by either of their scents, chuckling. “There’s still some Alpha in there. I’m eager to see if we can force it out completely or not, but I suppose you’d hope we can’t. You like it when your prey has some fight in it, don’t you?”
Childe didn’t answer, instead slowly walking over and kneeling down in front of her. She whined a little at the proximity, which was both too close and yet too far to appease either of the feelings warring inside of her. She tried to look past him, anxious to keep an eye on Dottore in case he tried anything, but she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off the Alpha in front of her.
Not an Alpha , her rage countered. Tartaglia is our equal. We do not want him.
But it didn’t matter, did it? If she wanted any chance to live, Dottore had made it clear that she would need to cooperate with these experiments. If she wanted any chance to see her brother—but at what point was it going too far? How much could she take before the cost was too great to continue?
Warm hands grasped hers, dragging her back to reality as a new wave of heat crashed over her. Lumine bit down on her cheek, hard; the metallic taste of blood grounded her enough to meet Childe’s gaze.
He was closer now, too close. Her eyes darted to his lips, almost darting lower, but she caught herself and forced them back up. After a moment, a breath too long, he let go of her hands, and she had to fight to keep from snatching them back. Something in her was frantic for his touch, and she was terrified by it.
She could see it in his eyes, too: the self-control doing battle with something else. Her rage surged, recognizing the telltale signs of a stirring Alpha: flaring nostrils, fidgeting hands, strengthening pheromones. Any lower and she’d no doubt see his arousal confirmed—but she couldn’t look, not because it might be true, but because of what she might do once she knew it was.
The Alpha in her beat against her chest, sunk its claws into her head and begged her to assert herself against him. Lumine was furious, and that fury demanded an outlet that she could not give it .
Because he was trying. Tartaglia was trying to bite back his reaction to what Dottore had done to her, and she couldn’t lash out at him, not when he was the only one who was remotely close to being on her side.
Her rage spat back at her, That’s the Omega talking, and her chest was suddenly tight, too tight, and she was suffocating with every breath she took.
“Lumine. Lumine. Lumine.” Her name was a hushed mantra on Childe’s lips as his fingers brushed against her arms, pulling her mind back to him once more. “Lumi, please, look at me.”
Her breathing steadied, barely. “Help me,” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat. “Childe, help me, please .”
He ran a hand through his hair before offering her a grin that looked more pained than playful. “I can’t do what you want me to do, girlie.”
But she didn’t know what she wanted him to do. She just knew that her body kept burning hotter and hotter, and if she didn’t do anything about it, she was afraid she’d burn to ash.
She was begging now, her voice trembling. “I don’t care what you do. Just help me .”
Childe stretched his hand out, sweeping her hair to the side and away from her neck. Even the ghost of his fingers against her neck sent shivers down her spine. Lumine wanted to say something, anything, but the words lodged themselves in her throat. He didn’t wait for her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her close.
She felt him pressed against her and the quietest of gasps escaped her throat. “Please,” she managed in a strangled voice.
His breath was hot against her burning skin, and she squirmed against him. As she moved, his breathing quickened, just fast enough for her to know he was slipping. And yet he still kept himself controlled, even as he brushed his lips against her ear that had her pressing against him once more.
He whispered, his voice husky, “You’re not going to like what happens next,” and the way his touch only seemed to stoke the heat inside her was almost enough to disguise the warning.
Almost, but not quite.
She tried to tilt her head to look at him, but then his lips were against her scent gland and suddenly she was sobbing, “No, don’t, it’s wrong —”
Tartaglia bit down and she keened beneath him, shaking and thrashing yet unable to escape his hold on her. Her vision swam. Her head spun. It was wrong, so wrong, and she was on the brink of self-destruction, about to fall.
Something foreign, in her but not over her, crooned, Mate . Lumine’s wailing grew louder, even as her body went limp against his, the mark he sucked against her skin cool compared to the heat inside her.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was soft as he shushed her and stroked her hair, almost tender. “I’m sorry, Lumine, I’m sorry.”
She almost believed it. He told her he’d be sweet if she wanted him to, because it was the only thing he could do to make things easier for her—and she wished she could believe it was the truth.
“It hurts,” her voice shook as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, hot tears spilling down her cheeks.
He’d bitten her scent gland. He’d bitten it, and now nothing was right. Her scent was mingling with his and she could smell his arousal, smell hers . The Alpha in her was silent, hiding itself away after he marked her and leaving her with the terrible empty wanting.
“I know, girlie. I’m sorry.” Childe wrapped his arms tighter around her as she lifted her head up. “ Fuck , I can’t…” He took a deep breath. “I can’t just stop now.”
She whined a little as he nuzzled her neck, trying to ignore how good it felt to be touched, how good it might feel if he touched her somewhere else . “I know. If you do, Dottore will—”
“That’s not why.”
Lumine felt him fidget with her cuffs for a moment before hearing a small click! She hesitantly pulled back from him, looking down to see he’d unchained her. The cuffs blocking her elemental abilities were still around her wrist, but that didn’t matter. Now, she could move—but she didn’t.
The part of her that wasn’t her, that wasn’t right, had seized her limbs and kept her still, growling in warning. This Alpha, it urged, he can help. He marked you. He’ll take care of you. He’ll soothe the heat.
It was a lie. She knew it was a lie. But now that she’d tried to move away from him, she was burning even hotter than before, and she was desperate to make it stop.
Tartaglia moved, and suddenly she was on her back on the ground, staring up at the ginger Harbinger as his hands rested against her shoulders. “Wh-what are you doing?”
“I,” he paused, a pained grimace briefly marring his face, “am trying so hard not to fuck you right now, girlie, and it’s killing me. ”
Lumine’s heart pounded in her chest. “It burns,” she whispered. “Childe, please, I need…”
Leaning in close, his breath tickled her ear as he rasped, “What do you need, Lumine?”
Archons , the sound of her name on his lips made the ache even worse. “Make it stop. I don’t care how, just make the burning stop.”
“Do you know what you’re asking?”
“You can make it stop.” She was begging as she grabbed his pants, clumsily attempting to unbutton them. His hands lifted from her shoulders, knocking hers away so he could undo them himself. “I need you to make it stop.”
As he ran a gloved finger across her folds, Lumine’s head lolled back. “Fuck, you’re so sensitive right now, aren’t you?” He slipped his finger inside her, pressing against her sensitive clit till she moaned underneath him, her cheeks flushing bright red. “You’re making such sweet little noises for me today.”
He slid his finger out and she immediately felt the loss, her legs sliding further apart as on instinct she presented herself to him, desperate for his attention. It was shameful, humiliating, to display herself like this for another Alpha. It wasn’t right, but when it soothed the heat and felt so good, how could it be wrong?
“I like seeing you all spread out just for me.”
“Mate.” It was an unconscious thought, a word she barely even breathed out, but Tartaglia’s eyes flashed when he heard it.
Lumine gasped as his cock slid deep inside her, her fingers clawing at the ground underneath her. “You’re so wet already,” he grunted, hands wrapping around her waist and holding on just a bit too tight, threatening to bruise her hips. “Such a, hng, good girl, so eager and ready for me.”
She preened at the praise. Her Alpha was happy with her—he was making the heat go away—he was making her feel so good . She bucked her hips against him, mewling as he thrust even deeper into her.
He nipped at her scent gland again, earning a whine that was equal parts pain and pleasure. “I won’t let anyone else have you. You’re mine.”
“Tarta-ah-ah!”
“I love hearing you say my name, Lumi.” His teeth seemed to grave every inch of her as he trailed harsh kisses across her body, marking her. “So good, you’re doing so good.”
She looked at him through half-lidded eyes, body flushed and quivering.
“Fuck, girlie, when you look at me like that…I’m selfish enough to enjoy this. How fucked up is that? I’ve, hng, wanted you for so long, but now that I have you I—”
“I want you.” She reached her hands up, threading them through his hair even as her arms trembled. “I want you, I want you, I want you.”
She would hate herself for it later. Some rational part of her knew she would, when the forced heat had worn down and she realized exactly what had been done to her. But right now, all she could think about was the Alpha in front of her and how wonderful it felt when he mated her.
Lumine came first, crying out as waves of pleasure washed over her. Childe’s knot caught on her walls, and he made a half-hearted attempt to pull it out until she mewled in pain and displeasure, thrusting her hips to try and force him deeper. It only took a bit of coaxing before he came, filling her up till a mix of his seed and her arousal dripped from her lower lips when he finally pulled out.
The world was upside down. She panted, limp beneath him and eyes nearly rolled back in her head. Finally her skin wasn’t burning—she wasn’t empty anymore, she felt so full and good—
“I don’t care if you hate me,” Tartaglia’s voice was quiet, distant, even though she felt his hands tracing her every curve and contour. “I told you I was selfish, that I wouldn’t let you die. Even if you hate me for it. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy, Lumine, even if I can’t make you forgive me.”
He lifted her up in his arms, holding her tight against his chest, till the sound of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.