My One and Only Alpha

Chapter 5

All bets were off now, so Louis went ahead and released every thought he’d been holding in for a very long time. He’d already fucked this up irrevocably, so what’s a little more dramatic flair?
“Alphas like you are the reason I can’t stand what I am, and what I’ve been ordered to be. I loathe your automatic assumption that I can’t take care of myself and conquer my enemies just because I’m not some big, strong Alpha like you. We’re not incompetent or helpless creatures, we’re severely underestimated. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we Omegas are not trained in combat. Not because we refuse, or because we’re incapable, but because we are purposefully not taught. ‘Cuz it’s ‘not our job.' So, I had to teach myself, and I did a damn good job because I’ve survived on my own in the wilderness killing you lot for the last three years!” he shouted, dropping his pants and pointing to the rather gruesome sets of tally marks that were carved into the skin of his thigh, one in particular looking fresher than the others.
Harry's gaze drifted down to the marks, and his eyes widened in surprise, having never seen self-inflicted injuries on an Omega before. "Omega—"
“See these?" Louis interrupted, leaving no room for commentary until he was finished. "Each of these cuts represent an unfortunate rogue whose heart stopped beating as a direct result of crossing my path. There’re one hundred and three of them in case you were curious,” he hotly informed, pulling his pants up rather sheepishly when he realized he had just fully presented himself to the Pack Alpha.
"Omega—"
“I'm not done," Louis snapped, taking a deep breath and running his hands through his shaggy, shoulder-length hair, subsequently continuing a little more calmly. "It is a much bigger insult to me to insinuate I have not, or could not possibly have done what I have to keep myself alive, than it is to directly abuse me. I may be a defective Omega who doesn’t have heats, and I certainly don’t bend to the will of my superiors, but my nature is intact. I feel emotions all the same, and killing goes against my very being. These marks are as much a punishment to myself for taking life as they are a convenient way to keep track of the number."
“I didn’t—“
“Nope,” Louis quipped to stop the Alpha’s interruption once again—he was not done. “Don’t you dare look down your nose at me; you don’t know me. But you know enough now, and you know I was banished, so go ahead—send me away. I can handle myself, despite what you may think,” he huffed, feeling pretty damn good about how that was handled. Unfortunately for him, the moment he'd finished his satisfying and long-overdue rant, he collapsed to his knees, whimpering pitifully in an unexpected distress.
Louis was shocked at himself, but he figured this was his inner Omega’s fury at him for disrespecting the very suitable and potential mate, and forcing him to stop digging his own grave. Defeated and marked a slave to his natural instincts, Louis was two seconds from begging for the Alpha’s forgiveness when he felt a hand sneak under his chin, and his face was lifted to meet the now softer expression of Harry’s.
“Nobody in my life...has ever disrespected me in such a forward manner,” Harry noted, causing a shudder of regret to rocket down Louis’ spine. “I should be a lot angrier than I am, and believe me, I might get that way once the shock passes...but I understand how deeply I offended you, and I will not doubt your abilities again,” he vowed, biting back the laugh at the Omega’s blatant confoundment.
Well, this is unexpected. Louis could do nothing except stare into the Alpha’s mismatched eyes in wonderment and try to decipher if this was reality or not. Harry’s not going to beat him senseless?
“I will never give you my mark of acceptance because you’re not the kind of Omega this pack needs, but you may stay here for as long as you want. I would truly be an evil Pack Alpha if I let any Omega back into the wild on their own, even if the Omega in question is...less than satisfactory. That too, goes against my nature. Go with Zayn, and he will find you a place to stay. Then you and I shall meet soon to discuss your pack duties. Until then,” Harry finished as he removed his hand with a parting caress, glaring pointedly at Zayn before swiftly exiting the lodge and leaving the two alone.
Louis was staggered by how well that had actually gone. Granted, Harry had made sure to mention Louis would never receive his mark, but the Omega was almost relieved at that because it essentially meant he would never again be tied down. This was looking to turn out better than Louis had ever anticipated. Aside from his happiness, Louis was still notably weakened from his inner Omega draining him spineless out of spite, but with Zayn’s assistance he was able to stand, and after a few sips of water from a jug near the drums, he felt decently prepared to face whatever he needed to.
“Sorry about him,” Zayn grunted, holding the cheek that was still sore from Harry’s assault. “I have to go see him and talk things out pretty soon, I can tell our conversation isn't over...but I can take you to our empty wigwams first and try to set you up with a permanent one.”
Louis nodded cooperatively, his mind stuck on the word ‘permanent,’ hastily clearing out of the lodge with a tired Zayn right behind him. He was just about to take a relaxing sigh when his gaze fell a few metres ahead on a short, blonde, very pale Omega with a contrasting face red as a tomato, and skin that was almost visibly steaming with an inferno-like rage that seemed ready to burst.
Which it did.
Quicker than Louis could even register what had happened, Niall catapulted himself at Zayn; his fist savagely making contact with the Alpha’s face for the third time, the flying punch utterly annihilating him. “Who the fuck is that?!” he screeched louder than an eagle, shoving an accusing finger at Louis.
Zayn quietly groaned from the ground and sluggishly stood up, gingerly holding his cheek like it would fall off if he let go this time. He reached over and pulled Louis behind him, probably for his safety, and approached his seething mate. “Baby, please, I can’t answer all of your questions now, I have urgent business with the Alpha,” he urged, trying to reason with the Omega but Niall was unreachable. That much was clear.
“I don’t care about your business with the Alpha, Zayn! You always have that, it’s your job! You’re gonna tell me why you’re bathing in that outsider’s scent right now, or I swear—“
Zayn didn’t let him finish and quickly trapped his furious mate in a constricting embrace, extending his canines and sinking them deep into Niall’s bond mark to shut him up. The blonde instantly sagged in his mate’s arms, his mouth falling open at the sudden overwhelming pleasure, a high-pitched squeak pushing through his throat. Zayn dug his teeth in deeper and didn’t let up until his mate was sighing in bliss and shamelessly rutting his hips against his leg.
“Alpha, take me,” Niall breathed, his tone a sharp flip from the angry one he’d had earlier. “I need you, please…”
Zayn growled appreciatively and retracted his sharp canines, licking the wound he’d made clean of blood and placing a delicate kiss to the skin. He then remembered the company he was in and looked at Louis apologetically, a smug grin overshadowing his accountability. “Louis, I’m sorry, but if I don’t get him to our bed soon—”
“Impregnate me! Now! Breed me!” Niall demanded, jumping up and wrapping his legs around Zayn’s larger body, eagerly climbing him like a tree.
“—He requires more attention in this state than he does when he’s angry. I have to go knot him, but do you see that path over there?” Zayn asked, trying to point with his arms full of his lusting Omega to a small path on the ground between two large pine trees.
Louis nodded his understanding, though he was a little nervous to go off on his own, and looked back to Zayn for further instructions.
“Just follow it until you get to the Healer’s teepee. Her name is Jadedra. Her home has a very large garden surrounding it—impossible to miss. She’ll help you with the wigwams, just pick one and I’ll be over in about…” he paused, glancing down at Niall to try and measure just how long he would be, “...about an hour. Possibly two; I still need to speak to Harry. Are you going to be okay? Can you do it?” he asked, his tone making it known that even if the Omega couldn’t, there was nothing Zayn could do about that.
Louis really didn’t want to go wandering around the unfamiliar territory by himself, but he also didn’t want to be here when Niall decided not to wait anymore—he wasn’t doing a good job of that as it is. “Yeah, I’ll be alright. Thank you, Zayn. You’d better go now, or Niall is gonna get your knot out of you before you can give it to him,” he teased, successfully biting back an unexpected grumble of jealousy at the prospect of knotting—something he’d never explicitly given that kind of thought to. What is happening with me?
“Knot! Gods, Zayn, I need your knot. Now. RIGHT NOW, ZAYN!” Niall screeched once again, and Zayn quickly obeyed, walking off with a writhing Niall in his arms and throwing a quick, “Bye!” to Louis before disappearing into the village.
Damn, Louis thought, smoothing his hair out and sighing to the bushy clouds in the dome sky above. He was undoubtedly in for an intense couple of days...but certainly not as intense as Zayn and Niall’s mating was about to be.