My One and Only Alpha

Chapter 8

The beginning of the day didn’t turn out to be as exciting as he’d thought it would. Zayn and Louis had unfortunately gotten split up; Zayn assigned to guard duty, and Louis dropped into strength training. Apparently, even if you were an experienced warrior of Chehalis, you still had to attend daily strength training. Which was an admittedly good happenstance, because warriors needed to be at their best and stay there—but Louis hardly thinks he needs it. He’s done just fine without.
Instead of complaining about it like a whiny Omega, Louis had marched straight into the training longhouse, packed with Alphas warming up for the day, and asserted his foreboding presence in every way possible. It was a necessity for Louis to prove his worth; to combat the weird and disbelieving looks he was getting for being an Omega among warriors; and he figured he’d done a fine job of it.
He’d snapped at the owner of every stare until they looked away, lunged for anyone who snorted at his bravado, and barked with howahkan when he was told to ‘take it easy.’ He was, at present, idly but ferociously beating the shit out of an example dummy made of clay when their leader swiftly entered the building, and it took him a few extra seconds to steady the dummy and stand at attention.
The warrior Alpha exuded a graceful aura that Louis couldn’t ever hope to harness, but it was his face that made the Omega especially intrigued in his backstory. The Alpha had two angry lines of scars at a diagonal slant down both his cheeks, and they looked to have gotten there by the end of a blade. His scars made him look rough and unapproachable, so his cheerful smile at the group gave the defacements a sharp contrast.
“Mornin, everyone,” the Alpha said drowsily, scratching at the mentioned scars and yawning into his palm.
“Hey, Chibs,” Katniss responded, happily startling Louis because he hadn’t even noticed she was in the building.
So this is Chibs, Louis awed, connecting the name to the infamous warrior chief—Jax’s mate. Chibs did indeed fit the exterior of a rugged warrior leader, and Louis had already grown an admiration for him from Jax’s exposition of their taboo bond. This was going to be a great lesson.
“I’d like to welcome Louis to our training today. He’s under special orders from Harry to be here, and if I hear one person make any comment on his gender, I will beat you into the ground. It will be going against Harry, so don’t you dare. Also, try and have a little respect for the Omega’s sake. If what I’ve heard is true, he can take all of you down. Be wise,” Chibs warned, causing an awkward blushing to spread across Louis’ cheeks.
To Louis’ incredulity, all the previously wary and/or outwardly condescending Alphas were now regarding him with a combination of acceptance and cautious appreciation. Chibs evidently had a great deal of influence over the warriors, but Louis vowed he’d win every single of them over of his own accord. He didn’t require anyone to defend him. Louis would garner everyone’s deference by himself.
Just as Chibs began to delve into the details of the duels they were about to perform, the Alpha chief unexpectedly tensed, his entire body rigid and stiff as a tree. A few weighted seconds elapsed of the warrior furiously sniffing the air, and the room began to worry.
“Chibs, what’s wrong?” asked an unknown Alpha to Louis’ right.
“Jax is going into heat,” the chief announced, his eyes wide with alarm. “Oh wow, that’s really early, but it’s here. Okay, uh…Parsel, you go get Harry and tell him to supervise the duels, I have to go. I’m sorry, everyone,” he said hurriedly, virtually soaring out of the longhouse without another word.
Louis watched as a long-haired, very beautiful but also particularly strange Alpha with incredibly intricate and serpentine eyes—that didn’t even seem focused on his surroundings—pass by him and vacate the longhouse as well, and he gathered that had obviously been Parsel. He now he understood the kind of traits Draco had been describing. The eyes were…well, the only thing Louis could think to equate them to was an actual snake’s. The pupils were narrow and vertical, and the irises were coloured a golden, reddish-brown. One of a kind, indeed.
The most magnetizing thing, however, was how the Alpha had moved. He indisputably wasn’t using his eyes to discern where he was going—at first glance, he appeared to, but when Louis had examined him as he’d strode past, the Omega could tell the eyes of the Alpha weren’t truly the means of sensory perception guiding him through the crowd. He had ever so slightly been cocking his head to the side as he maneuvered, like he was listening for something, and his movements were utterly silent.
Parsel, as a whole, was a fascinating wolf, and Louis didn’t think he’d ever get over it. How truly wonderful it was that Parsel could see his mate in perfect definition when he couldn’t see anything else. Louis’ heart positively swelled for the couple.
Louis’ happy little Omega moment was suddenly hurled into panic Omega moment so fast that he suffered a violent case of whiplash. Shit! He hadn’t internalized Chibs had ordered Parsel to go get Harry, as in the Harry, and when the Omega finally did, Harry had already swept into the room with the peculiarly-traveling Parsel close behind.
“Looking good, wolves,” the Pack Alpha groggily drawled, adjusting the small breechcloth around his hips he’d evidently just put on. Louis’ toes curled as he imagined the before picture. Everyone in the room bowed their devotion to the Pack Alpha, and Louis quickly snapped himself in half as well; he refused to stand out any more than he had to (more than he already did). Now was not the time. When the official respects had been paid, the room unanimously pitched in their ‘good morning’s to their godly leader, and he responded in kind.
“I’ve been informed Chibs was about to start dueling matches?” Harry asked the room once they’d quieted, his wolves nodding their heads with a little chorus of chuckles. “I’m pleased. I love a good fight in the morning. Let’s get right into it, shall we?” he proposed, the wolves parting like a school of fish and forming a circle around the little stage that peeked up from the floor.
Louis scrambled to an open spot to stand, and tried to hide himself behind the back of a tall Alpha, disinclined to receive this Pack Alpha’s attention when he was supposed to be his true mate, or whatever. No.
Harry’s unique eyes slowly and carefully surveyed the wolves in the circle, sizing everyone up before stopping on a long-faced Alpha on the western side of the group. “Keanu!” he called, the requested Alpha moving to the center and stepping up onto the stage with the Pack Alpha.
“And…” Harry dragged out, resuming his search of the crowd. His gaze was getting dangerously close to Louis, just barely visible from behind his wall of an Alpha, and the Omega squeezed his eyes shut as he began to chant in his head. Not me. Do not do this. You’re gonna do it. I know you are, you asshole, don’t pick me. Not me, please no— “…Louis.”
The Omega shot his eyes open and glared at the Alpha’s face—can’t look him in the eyes—for all he was worth. He held the glare for several seconds before caving to cooperation, stepping out from around the Alpha and hopping onto the battle stage. Louis knew this was Harry’s way of testing him, and he was going to come out on top no matter what. He’d defeated much bigger Alphas than Kanu, or whatever his name was, and he was almost impatient to begin.
In fact, Louis found he was elated. He smirked at the warrior Alpha while he cracked his knuckles, back, and shoulders, preparing his body to make the sharp movements it would need to for success. He heard Harry explaining the rules, but he didn’t listen at all, crouching down into an offensive position and sucking in a breath—
“LOUIS!” Harry barked, apparently not for the first time, instantly halting Louis’ imminent advance.
“What?” the Omega asked impudently, finding it almost painful to be short with his Alpha. That’s not good.
“I said you’re on defense. No offensive attacks. Keanu is offense. Are we clear?” Harry muttered in slight agitation, still happy to push the boundaries of the Omega by sticking him on defense.
Louis’ face fell in disappointment, but he gave a short nod to show he understood. He would accept any challenge his Pack Alpha threw at him. He obediently changed his stance and waited for Harry to announce the start of the duel. Offensive or not, this was still going to be too easy.
Harry then stepped off the stage to give them room and let out a short-lived and piercing bark, but neither opponents moved. Instead, they began to circle each other like vultures, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
Having enough of Louis’ severely misplaced and overly confident smirking, Keanu found his window and lunged for the Omega, fully expecting to end it right then and there. Shockingly, he was far too slow, and Louis glided away without so much as a hair blown out of place.
Keanu tried futilely countless more times to reach the fast little devil, his goal having downsized to just getting a hand on him, but he never touched the Omega, getting outsmarted every time. Louis was three steps ahead of the Alpha no matter what he did, and he began laughing out loud as he dodged his every advance. This greatly insulted the Alpha’s nature to a manic degree and he accidentally lost control of his instincts, his wolf shooting out from his soul in the middle of the duel.
That didn’t take long, Louis noted internally, referencing the multitude of examples in which rogues had gotten tired of chasing after him and shifted to ‘end the fight’—they weren’t ever the ones to end it, though. A wolf in duel-practice was apparently not something that happened very often, if going by the collective gasp Louis heard from the rest of the company, and he caught some of their dumbfounded expressions in the corner of his eyes.
Harry would have stopped it right there, but he needed to know. He needed to see what Louis could do. So, little Omega. What are you going to do?
Louis, being wholly unbothered by the sudden change in gameplay, remained in his human form, merely picking up the pace of his dodges and heightening his jumps, expertly avoiding Keanu all the same. The temptation to shift grew more insistent the longer he dodged the wolf’s lunges, but he would not adhere to his instincts—he would finish this as a human. Show Harry how capable he was when put on the spot.
The warriors surrounding the duelers were beside themselves, but most of all, Harry, whose inner Alpha was swelling with pride from watching the Omega’s unheard-of strength, and clear supremacy of his kind, right before his very eyes. The Pack Alpha caught his affectionate musings and briefly wondered why he felt proud rather than neutrally impressed, but he couldn’t dwell on it for long because Louis took that time to administer his first and final blow.
With the grace of a hawk and agility of a cougar, Louis flung himself into the air, carefully twisting and spinning through it to land perfectly atop Keanu’s back and constrict his arms around the wolf’s thick neck. No matter how many times Keanu tried to buck him off, Louis would not let himself budge, and only when the Alpha was gasping for breath, and the struggle was drastically lessening, did Louis finally release him and jump off, landing noiselessly onto one knee beside his fallen opponent.
The room held its breath for a few more beats before breaking out into thunderous acclaim, hopping up onto the stage to pat him on the back in admiration. Even Keanu himself shifted back and gave Louis a fierce hug and Alpha-like pat /smash/ on the back. Looking around, Louis realized the only wolf to show no recognition of his accomplishment was the Pack Alpha himself, gorgeous face blank and unreadable. Well?
Silencing the room at once by holding one hand into the air, Harry languidly made his way into the crowd as the wolves crept back into their tight circle, guiding Keanu out and removing his tribal necklace. “Elessar,” he called, holding the jewelry in his outstretched arm.
A strong-chinned Alpha rushed forward and gingerly took the piece from Harry’s awaiting hand, moving far beyond the circle to set it down on a mantle upon the same wall as the exit.
Harry then turned his body to face Louis, and the Omega nearly died. Harry wants Louis to fight him? How was Louis going to achieve this without automatically giving in? Apparently, the need to impress his Alpha was greater than his fear of hurting him, because Louis lowered to a threatening crouch before he’d intended to, and he felt his blood boiling with anticipation.
Harry looked unperturbed at Louis’ enthusiasm, offhandedly instructing Elessar to call the battle, and refusing to even bend his knees in preparation. He wasn’t worried—and Louis hated that. After a few painfully long moments, the starting bark was heard, and Louis barely got time to move one muscle before Harry was charging him. Reacting just in time with a startled yip, Louis leapt skyward, soaring over the Alpha and landing clumsily behind him.
He prepared to strike next, spinning himself around with his knee raised to deliver a kick, but Harry was fast, and blocked Louis’ attack with ease, knocking his leg away with the back of his hand. Louis then tried for a punch, but Harry’s forearms took the brunt of it with ease and he darted forward so quick that Louis was forced to leap away like a little bitch. This wasn’t looking like it would turn out in Louis’ favour and he was furious—he was now ferally ambitious to be regarded as an equal, and he had to figure out a way to do that. He needed to prove his worth to his mate, so dropping his walls of calculated fighting style, he unleashed an unfiltered inferno of combative attacks. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to do it in style.
The battle was promptly thrust into a high-speed, higher-energy fight to the death. The two opponents were moving and blocking and attacking so quickly, it was even difficult for the warrior Alphas to follow it with their eyes. Their complex footwork and reflexes, though chaotic, were as graceful as a dance, and the warriors were entranced by the performance before them, documenting everything they saw to educate themselves on how they could be fighting if they just trained harder.
Meanwhile, Louis was raging. Every consecutive attack he threw was seamlessly parried by the Pack Alpha, but in turn, all of Harry’s were equally blocked by the Omega. This went on endlessly, and Louis began to grow weary from the exertion. Every time he tried to catch a moment and conserve his energy, Harry was on him like lightning, and Louis fought back with everything he had.
Through his anger, he allowed himself to be impressed with Harry—not even rogues had this kind of endurance. It had never taken Louis long to do away with his enemies, but Harry was far superior to every rogue he'd come across. He was a beast, and this wasn't going to end well. Louis left his environment behind so Harry was the only thing that existed in the entire world, and fought him like his life depended on it. He managed to get a few kicks in against Harry’s sides and legs, but he could never get anywhere near his face, and he knew Harry was still holding back. If Louis could kick him, then he could get kicked in return, but the assaults never came.
Affronted because Louis figured Harry was underestimating his tolerance to pain, the Omega took the route of taunting the Alpha. “What’s wrong, coward? Think a delicate Omega like me can’t take a punch? Why don’t you fight for real, huh?” he shouted between gasps for air.
The Alpha only paused for a blip of a moment, but that was all the opening Louis needed. He slid quick as an arrow through the guard of Harry’s arms and jammed his trusty elbow into Harry’s bare stomach, his diabolical grin at success hurting his cheeks.
The Pack Alpha grunted from the impact, but otherwise took it like a champion, and besides, this was the exact sacrifice he had needed to make to get Louis where he wanted him. Louis seemed to realize this too, but a second too late, and before he could flee, Harry wrapped an arm around the Omega’s neck and yanked him up against him, his other hand tangling in his hair and tilting his face up to meet his eyes.
Louis’ heart lurched as his body was now forcibly pressed against Harry’s, warm chest to chest, and he squirmed as the Alpha’s sweet breath floated around his cheeks like a massage. Okay, maybe Louis’ getting a little carried away—the Alpha was actually just panting in his face, but Louis enjoyed it all the same. The scent of an Alpha, this Alpha, so close to him was blurring his vision, and Louis had to blink several times before Harry’s features came back into focus. And when they did, he noticed something strange.
At some point during that momentary fog, both of Harry’s eyes had become pitch black orbs, like his pupils had blown to their maximum radius, but Louis knew the pigment itself had transformed. He’d seen this before—when he first met him. The menacing ebony eyes were beyond hypnotizing and Louis subconsciously pressed himself harder into Harry’s frame—thankfully unnoticeable to their audience—while he tried to seep the Alpha’s sweat into his own pores. Might sound gross, but you’d do it too.
Harry noticed the Omega’s unintentional pining, and the fist that had his hair in a vice-grip swiftly released it in apology, his palm smoothing the unsettled strands to the best of his ability. A careful thumb lightly stroked back and forth just behind Louis’ earlobe, under his hair where it wouldn’t be seen, and the arm that had been wound tightly around his neck lowered so it sat more around his shoulders. “I got you,” he whispered into Louis’ star-struck face with a smug smile, giving a parting squeeze to the nape of the Omega’s neck and then letting him go, stepping backward as he ruminated on why it felt awful to put space between them.
When this happened, a sort of spell seemed to have broken, and they were both suddenly aware of the roaring Alphas surrounding them.
Louis blanched. He really hoped the moment he’d just shared with the Pack Alpha hadn’t been as long for everyone else as it had been for him, because that would be hours. He shyly waved at the applauding Alphas, but his eyes searched for the retreated Harry, lamenting the truth that their interaction was now over. Come back…
The Pack Alpha had retrieved his neck piece from the mantle and was currently adjusting it while he stared directly into Louis’ unblinking eyes. They were both aware of the tension and sparks that had flowed between them, but Louis wasn’t an Omega Harry could ever mate (he would never let himself have any Omega), so he needed to find a way to squash this attraction before it spun out of control.
He sat down in Chibs’ throne of a chair and waited for the buzz to die down, maintaining his intense and contemplative staring contest with the Omega as his rowdy warrior gradually chilled their blazing excitement.
Louis knew the Pack Alpha was waiting for attentive recognition, so he cleared his throat at the talkative warriors in a warning, and when that coveted silence was acquired, Harry finally spoke; a blunt and appreciative statement in that low, gravelly voice of his that had Louis quivering with insatiable desire: “Louis could kill you all.”