Chapter Text
Wylan
Wylan didn’t know how long had passed since they’d camped in by the Markel, but he couldn’t even force himself to try and guess. He didn’t want the moment to ever pass. He’d never felt cheated out of anything, being with Jesper, even out of a proper proposal of mating that few omegas got in Ketterdam. But now he’d had it he felt himself float to a cloud so high they’d never be able to count it.
He never knew how he could ever match or reciprocate the love that Jesper showered him with, but he hoped what he gave was enough. He had a feeling that it was, especially as they spoke about so many beautiful memories from their lives so far. Shared and not. For the first time he felt like enough.
It had been a bit of a slam back to reality as the worker from earlier had to tell them they were now closing, and so they’d made their way out and begun their journey back to the crow club and Dreg territory. The night sky had overtaken them now, glittering stars and a full moon illuminating the road before them as romantically as was possible. It was quite the scene that unfolded before them.
His mind began to wander to when they’d go back again, the gallery had been everything he’d imagined and more. He could’ve spent hours walking around. Each painting had been so unique, every brushstroke and colour choice so mesmerising and refined, he could’ve spent years analysing and soaking each detail into his psyche.
And his alpha had remembered his favourite one. For the first time in a while, Wylan had let himself remember his mama. The garden. All of it. Although, after reminiscing with Jesper he’d felt the sinking pit of grief start to ghost around him and had quickly forced the lid back on it. For now, it was just him and his alpha, wandering back to their home.
And Jesper and him were in no rush, slowly sauntering back as though they were drunk on love itself, clinging to one another for dear life.
“Are you happy, my love?” Jesper asked.
“With you? Yes. Very.”
Jesper chuckled under his breath, pulling him in even closer.
“I do have that effect on people.”
”Can we go again soon?”
”Whenever you like, just say the word.”
”Thank you for everything.”
”You never have to thank me.”
“Do you think-“ Wylan had began, but he felt Jesper’s whole body suddenly tense beside him as he did. Jesper being still was seldom a good thing. “Is everything okay?”
He couldn’t smell anything, not a whiff of any danger, and so this motion had unsettled something in Wylan’s stomach. What was he missing?
“Fine, fine my love. Just thought I heard something.”
Lying. He’s lying.
Jesper was an awful liar. He knew when he was hiding something, without the bond betraying him even more so. It only made him feel worse.
Something is wrong.
“Are you sure?”
“Sure, come on, let’s just get home. There is a cosy bed with our names on it.”
Something…is...wrong.
They hurried along, passing the border of university district, close to Poppy’s…and the town centre. Jesper wasn’t speaking now, just the silence mixed with the odd far off conversation or the crashing of waves in the distance hanging in the air. He still hadn’t relaxed.
Someone’s out there. Who? Not them. It can’t be them. They’re dead.
Both their paces had sped up significantly as they passed Poppy’s now, getting even closer to the town square. He was surprised that Jesper would even take them near it, knowing how protective the alpha was. If they were taking the quickest route home something had to be wrong.
They’re gone. Dead. It’s not them. The auction. That night. It’s okay. You’re with Jesper. It’s not that night. They’re dead.
Just then something moved in his proriferral vision. All at once the twisting movement of bodies following them swarmed around them, matched by the intensifying sound of footsteps all around. Something was very wrong. Feeling his heart rate start to sky rocket, which only sent Jesper into more of an alert state, Wylan tried to breathe.
“Wylan I know you’re stressed my love but you need to relax, we’re going to be okay, but they’ll be able to smell your fear, even through the scent blockers.” Jesper whispered urgently to him.
Useless. Calm down. You need to calm down. You’re putting him in danger. Worthless. Pathetic. Not good for anything.
He tried to calm down, to push the anxiety rising in him back down. But to no avail. The way home was much darker now, the smell of pollution and the sea rife as he struggled to see even ten feet in front of him. The street felt narrower and the stretch in front of them even longer than it had done not three hours earlier.
They’re dead. Worthless. Danger. Danger. Useless. Dead. Gone. Danger. Calm down Wylan. Why are you so useless? What’s wrong with you?
“Fine, everything’s fine. We just need to get you back home now.” Jesper mumbled, who to he wasn’t sure exactly.
You’re like a child, stupid, imbecile.
Suddenly he heard the metallic clicking of a gun being cocked as the alpha pushed him slightly ahead of him and shouted to run. He sprinted as fast as his legs would take him, trying to stay ahead of Jesper but starting to struggle. And then the footsteps also started to pick up the pace, echoing louder and louder. Chasing them relentlessly. Faster. Closer.
RUN, RUN. DANGER. FASTER. RUN. STUPID. RUN.
“Wylan come on! We need to run! Don’t stop!”
***
Jesper
They were at the town square now, still too far from home. He knew there was no chance they’d make it back as they were. Whoever was after them would kill him, he couldn’t bear to think about what they’d do with Wylan. These people had to be after him for something, an old tryst or mission come to catch up with him. He’d be able to settle this and they’d laugh afterwards. Or he’d kill them first.
Realistically, it left one option.
He felt Wylan start to still and tense as he took in where they were, but still he dragged him along. Pulling him along until they got to the auction platform, encouraging and then pushing him underneath it. Wylan struggled, fighting him as he felt his pain and anguish tear through him like a blade. He was there again, that night. Thrashing in his arms and trying to scramble away.
Jesper cupped his face, trying to tell him to breathe and listen to him. He could feel him drowning but he had no time to pull him out. Despite the guilt rising in him, suffocating him, he persisted.
“I know, I know my love I’m sorry. This is the only way. I need you to get under there and stay there until I say. Alright? Trust me? It’s me. You know you can. Please Wylan there’s not enough time. I love you. I need your help baby. Please get under there.”
Wylan’s eyes fixed on his, cutting through him as he saw the terror in them start to blend into something else. He stopped resisting, finally allowing himself to be pushed under as he curled up into a ball and froze. Just like he had in the cage that night.
It was a night Jesper never wanted to remember, in spite of the perfect day that was only a short while behind them. He stood, ready to lead their assailants away towards the harbour, as far from his omega as he could. This was his fight, his battle to win or lose, and so long as they were as far from there as possible he was okay with either. For once, he prayed to the saints, standing in the middle of the square, ready for their attackers to come hurtling towards him.
But they never did. The footsteps ceased all at once. Instead, someone stopped on the outskirts of the town, he could sense others awaiting in the edge, blanketed by darkness, but it was one figure that emerged before him.
“Mr Fahey?”
“That’s me. What was it? Three man bramble? I crossed you with the dregs? Face too sexy to be allowed on these streets?”
“Enough.”
“That’s funny people often tell me I’m more than enough. Too much actually. Can’t think why.”
”Mr Fahey-“
“If it was a date you were after I’m afraid I’m no longer on the market. I do have some friends though…”
“We’ve come on business.”
It was that sentence that finally pushed a conclusion through to his brain. These people had come from a mercher pack. He was sure he hadn’t crossed a mercher pack. Except for one.
“We have a deal for you in which your pack survives. And we take back what is rightfully ours.”
That last phrase burned though him, red hot and dangerous.
“Well I often run deals through my fellow alpha. He’s more the man with the clipboard than I am.”
“You know what we want.”
“You’d have to kill me.”
He reached for his pistols, raising them up to the man before him. He knew it was pointless, he was surrounded, probably from all sides by this point. But he’d had worse odds than this before, and much less of a reason to fight for.
“I wouldn’t do that Mr Fahey.”
“I’ve also been reminded I never do as I’m told.”
Jesper let the first bullet fly, breath caught in his throat as he readied himself to dodge and unleash the next. In just a few seconds he rolled to the floor and headed for the clock tower and a chance at salvation. Overhead he heard the familiar melody of bullets flying through the air, a cacophony of scents hitting him in a daze, with no idea of how many there were.
Disoriented, he pulled himself closer, praying that Wylan was safe, knowing he had to fight to keep him alive. He managed to clear his head enough to look up, just as a bullet whizzed by his ear, and exploded into the ground. That was new. The shrapnel cutting up his face as he realised he could only hear through his left ear.
He managed to get himself to the stairs of the tower, luckily no one seemed to be placed directly behind him, so he was somewhat shielded from the barrage of weapons.
Lifting his pistols once more, Jesper aimed all around him, but with one ear incapacitated it was a much taller order. He fired one, two, three, hearing a scream and thud after the third. There was still hope here, he could get them out of this.
And then he felt his shoulder scream in pain. He tried to duck down, but losing his balance he slammed his own head against the stone pillar hard. Looking down, the view around him blurring, Jesper caught sight of his arm, covered in a deep red liquid. The same kind of red from the gallery walls. He couldn’t lift it at all, slumping against the steps, he realised he’d been hit from the left. His bad ear. He couldn’t move now, whether it was the shock or concussion he didn’t know.
But he heard footsteps approaching as he found himself looking down the wrong end of a gun.
“All the blood is masking any other scents.”
“This is his alpha?”
“Tell the boss we’ve got one.”
“Enough.” One voice reared above the rest. “Mr Fahey, I’m going to give you one last chance. Where is our omega?”
Jesper lifted his head weakly, looking up at a woman adorned in a red cloak, steely eyes fixed on his as a smile stained her lips.
“Ghe-bmng.” He mumbled.
“What?”
”ug-cloa-ghez.”
”What’s he saying?”
”Gh-“
”Yes?”
“Ghezen, that’s an ugly cloak.”
The woman’s smile vanished, replaced by rage as she fixed her gun on him.
“Well with you gone our job is made a lot easier.”
He thought only of Wylan then. The rejection syndrome, him potentially dying of a broken heart all because of him. After all his promise. The pain he’d suffer after his death. His pack, his family, his da. Everything they’d spoken about. Their afternoon at the gallery. His delayed proposal. His final day.
“You know you could’ve-“
He’d never know what he could’ve.
All at once a turret of smoke billowed up in front of them both. Swallowing everything in its sight, Jesper heaved and waited. All around him he heard bodies thumping to the floor. He managed to lift himself off the gravel enough to see a ghost appearing in and out of the smoke, the sound of knives being unleashed all around it. Then the scream of ‘heartrender!” As bodies slammed to the ground. More smoke bombs flew, the whip of a sword tearing through bodies and then the clunk of a cane as it came into contact with someone’s skull.
It continued on and on until there was nothing. The wind carried the smoke away and Jesper, fading in and out of reality, noticed bodies hovering over him.
“Where is he Jes?”
“Wait I feel him. The bond. He’s here. Wylan?”
“Jesper can you hear me?”
”I’m losing him.”
”Where exactly is Wylan?”
”Are you alright Jesper?”
He tried to say something, tell them where his omega was, but nothing came out. Instead he swum between this world and another. Lights flickered and faded, the world felt as though it was twisting on its axis. And then nothingness
Until he came to.
“Where’s Wylan?” He groaned as he felt his head start to lighten. As his vision cleared, and he realised he was still lying on the floor of the town square, catching sight of Nina waving her hands above him.
“That’s the concussion, now your shoulder. This is going to hurt a lot worse.”
“That’s fine, where’s W—aaah.” He screamed.
“I did warn you.”
“It’s okay he’s fine Jes. Matthias and Kaz have him.”
He felt himself relax back into the ground, he could finally see the carnage around him, blood and bodies and debris all around. The remains of the mercher pack littering the town square ominously. White cloaks now stained blood red.
“What were you thinking?” Kaz’s sharp voice cut in.
“Kaz I almost died a little ‘how are you?’ wouldn’t go amiss.” He coughed back.
“What were you thinking coming out here alone and unprotected without telling us Jes? Anything could have happened if we didn’t show up.” Inej asked warily.
He finally caught sight of Wylan being half-carried by Matthias. His face was a bit cut up, but other than that he looked unharmed. If not traumatised again.
“Wylan, are you okay?” Jesper asked, seeing the glassy look on his face.
“Your arm Jesper.” The shock was evident in his tone.
“It’s alright, Nina’s on it, she’s the b—aaaaah.”
“Almost done.”
”You’re hurting him!”
”It’s okay, she’s almost done.” Inej soothed him.
“You were lucky we managed to bail you both out, with ten smoke bombs. Not the fifteen I asked for.”
The implications of that hung heavy in the air and the pit of Jespers stomach. He saw Wylan curl in on himself beside Matthias, both from being admonished by an alpha and from muscle memory.
“It was my fault, I convinced him to go.”
“Of course you did.”
“Alright Kaz you’ve made your point, we’re all safe now that’s what counts.” Nina cut in.
“I thought bringing your own member into the pack would’ve given you a sense of responsibility. But you have none do you?”
“Kaz, please, this isn’t helpful.” Inej mumbled softly.
“How did you know you’d need fifteen smoke bombs for this?”
No one answered for a good minute.
“Kaz. How did you know?”
He felt almost perfectly normal again now as he sat up and faced the alpha.
“I had a feeling you might be followed, and so I had Wylan make the necessary precautions.”
“You knew and you let us go? You knew they were following us.”
“I had people watch you at Poppy’s to be sure. They followed you after that and we zoned in on the mercher pack. And now we have confirmation of what I suspected.”
Of course he’d known before Jesper did. Of course he’d had people following them. The other alpha spun and looked deep into Wylan’s still terror-stricken eyes. The look in Kaz’s was the same as the night they’d scent marked one another.
“We know two things in fact. Both are linked. One, the new law that the council is trying to push through.”
”Yes?” Matthias pressed.
Jesper almost screamed once more as Nina finally finished working on his injured arm, reattaching nerves and ligaments.
”It’s to allow packs to challenge mating bites, and to be able to force omegas to undergo the rejection syndrome.”
“What?” Jesper spat.
But Kaz was still staring at Wylan.
“And two, Jan Van Eck is after you.”